Concepts for maintaining updated electronic task-management records reflecting planned shipment activities

ABSTRACT

Computer-implemented methods, apparatus, and computer program products are provided. In one embodiment, shipment information/data corresponding to a proposed shipment from a customer computing device is received. The shipment information/data may be generated based on a task-management record from user input provided from a shipper. The shipment information/data also identifies a destination location and a desired delivery date for the proposed shipment. In one embodiment, updated shipment information/data is generated and causes the customer computing device to generate updated task-management records via a task-management software application based at least in part on one or more tender dates.

BACKGROUND

Individuals, businesses, and other shippers of items/shipments oftendesire that their shipments arrive at an intended destination locationby a particular date and/or time. For example, an individual may desirethat an item/shipment reach an intended recipient by the recipient'sbirthday. Thus, individuals are often required to estimate when anitem/shipment should be sent to ensure that it arrives by the desireddelivery date. In certain instances, individuals may not have completeand accurate information/data regarding the estimated transportationtime needed in order to send the shipment to the desired destination,and thus the individuals may be unable to accurately determine anappropriate date to provide the shipment to a carrier for transportationto the destination location.

Accordingly, a need exists for systems and methods for informingshippers of dates by which shipments should be tendered to a carrier toensure that the shipment will arrive at an intended destination locationby a desired delivery date.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various embodiments are directed to concepts for facilitating thecompletion of a task list stored on a user's computing device byautomatically initiating a shipping process for shipping related tasks,and for electronically generating additional, timely reminders for theuser to ensure that any needed physical shipping tasks are completed.Various embodiments thus describe individual components of an electronicdevice to initiate the shipping process by automatically providing acarrier computing system with situation-specific shipping data utilizedto generate electronic shipping records utilized during shipment basedon a user's electronic to-do list, the user's current location, and/orother characteristics of the user's electronic device. In general,embodiments of the present invention provide methods, apparatus,systems, computing devices, computing entities, and/or the like forproviding shippers with automatically generated reminders/notificationsfor a prospective shipment Various embodiments are directed to conceptsfor facilitating the completion of a task list stored on a user'scomputing device by automatically initiating a shipping process forshipping related tasks, and for electronically generating additional,timely reminders for the user to ensure that any needed physicalshipping tasks are completed. Various embodiments thus describeindividual components of an electronic device to initiate the shippingprocess by automatically providing a carrier computing system withsituation-specific shipping data utilized to generate electronicshipping records utilized during shipment based on a user's electronicto-do list, the user's current location, and/or other characteristics ofthe user's electronic device. In general, embodiments of the presentinvention provide methods, apparatus, systems, computing devices,computing entities, and/or the like for providing shippers withautomatically generated reminders/notifications for a prospectiveshipment. In accordance with one aspect, a computer-implemented methodfor remotely monitoring, via a communication interface, an electronictask-management database operable to store one or more electronictask-management records on a customer computing device to detect a newlyadded electronic task-management record; receiving, via thecommunication interface, the newly added electronic task-managementrecord, wherein the newly added electronic task-management recordidentifies a task and comprises an image of a package generated by thecustomer computing device; determining, via one or more processors,whether the newly added electronic task-management record identifies ashipping task comprising at least one electronic component, wherein theat least one electronic component comprises generating an electronicshipment record for a shipment; upon determining that the newly addedelectronic task-management record identifies a shipping task comprisingat least one electronic component, extracting shipment data, via the oneor more processors, at least in part from the newly added electronictask-management record, wherein the shipment data identifies (i) aproposed shipment, (ii) the shipper, (iii) a destination location, (iv)a desired delivery date for the proposed shipment, and (v) the currentlocation of the customer computing device; determining, via the one ormore processors and based at least in part on the current location ofthe customer computing device, an origin location for the proposedshipment; generating, via the one or more processors and based at leastin part on the shipment data, the electronic shipment record for theproposed shipment, wherein the electronic shipment record comprisesshipment data identifying the shipper and the destination location;updating, via the one or more processors, the shipment data to comprisedata identifying one or more tender dates and one or more service levelscorresponding to each of the one or more tender dates for delivering theproposed shipment to the destination location by the desired deliverydate; and remotely causing the customer computing device to generate oneor more updated electronic task-management records each corresponding toone of the one or more tender dates.

In accordance with another aspect, an apparatus comprising at least oneprocessor and at least one memory including computer program code isprovided. In one embodiment, the at least one memory and the computerprogram code may be configured to, with the processor, cause theapparatus to at least: remotely monitor, via a communication interface,an electronic task-management database operable to store one or moreelectronic task-management records on a customer computing device todetect a newly added electronic task-management record; receive, via thecommunication interface, the newly added electronic task-managementrecord, wherein the newly added electronic task-management recordidentifies a task; determine whether the newly added electronictask-management record identifies a shipping task comprising at leastone electronic component, wherein the at least one electronic componentcomprises generating an electronic shipment record for a shipment; upondetermining that the newly added electronic task-management recordidentifies a shipping task comprising at least one electronic component,extract shipment data extracting shipment data at least in part from thenewly added electronic task-management record, wherein the shipment dataidentifies (i) a proposed shipment, (ii) the shipper, (iii) adestination location, (iv) a desired delivery date for the proposedshipment, and (v) the current location of the customer computing device;determine, based at least in part on the current location of thecustomer computing device, an origin location for the proposed shipment;generate, based at least in part on the shipment data, an electronicshipment record initiating shipment for the proposed shipment, whereinthe electronic shipment record comprises data identifying the shipperand the destination location; update the shipment data to comprise dataidentifying one or more tender dates and one or more service levelscorresponding to each of the one or more tender dates for delivering theproposed shipment to the destination location by the desired deliverydate; and remotely cause the customer computing device to generate oneor more updated electronic task-management records each corresponding toone of the one or more tender dates.

In accordance with yet another aspect, a computer program product isprovided. The computer program product may comprise at least onenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readableprogram code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program codeportions comprising executable portions collectively configured to atleast: remotely monitor, via a communication interface, an electronictask-management database operable to store one or more electronictask-management records on a customer computing device to detect a newlyadded electronic task-management record; receive, via the communicationinterface, the newly added electronic task-management record, whereinthe newly added electronic task-management record identifies a task;determine whether the newly added electronic task-management recordidentifies a shipping task comprising at least one electronic component,wherein the at least one electronic component comprises generating anelectronic shipment record for a shipment; upon determining that thenewly added electronic task-management record identifies a shipping taskcomprising at least one electronic component, extract shipment dataextracting shipment data at least in part from the newly addedelectronic task-management record, wherein the shipment data identifies(i) a proposed shipment, (ii) the shipper, (iii) a destination location,(iv) a desired delivery date for the proposed shipment, and (v) thecurrent location of the customer computing device; determine, based atleast in part on the current location of the customer computing device,an origin location for the proposed shipment; generate, based at leastin part on the shipment data, an electronic shipment record initiatingshipment for the proposed shipment, wherein the electronic shipmentrecord comprises data identifying the shipper and the destinationlocation; update the shipment data to comprise data identifying one ormore tender dates and one or more service levels corresponding to eachof the one or more tender dates for delivering the proposed shipment tothe destination location by the desired delivery date; and remotelycause the customer computing device to generate one or more updatedelectronic task-management records each corresponding to one of the oneor more tender dates.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will nowbe made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn toscale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary schematic diagram of a system that may be used topractice various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary schematic diagram of a carrier system inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary schematic diagram of a customer computing entityin accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary flow diagram for generating task-managementindicative of an appropriate drop-off date for a shipment according tocertain embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 5A-5B are exemplary flow diagrams indicating various processesperformed for generating task management items/shipments and shipmentinformation/data as a part of an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 6A, 6B are example user interface screens of a task-managementinput source displaying task-management information/data in accordancewith various embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A, 7B are example user interface screens of a task-managementsoftware application displaying advanced notifications in accordancewith various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8A is an example user interface screen of a contact managementsoftware application in accordance with various embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8B is an example user interface screen incorporating advancednotifications in a task-management input source in accordance withvarious embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary flow diagram for integrating a server system withadvanced notification and task-management software via a mobile device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the present invention now will be described morefully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichsome, but not all embodiments of the inventions are shown. Indeed, theseinventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not beconstrued as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicablelegal requirements. The term “or” is used herein in both the alternativeand conjunctive sense, unless otherwise indicated. The terms“illustrative” and “exemplary” are used to be examples with noindication of quality level. And terms are used both in the singular andplural forms interchangeably. Like numbers refer to like elementsthroughout.

Brief Overview

Various embodiments provide systems and methods for providing shippersof shipments/items with information/data identifying dates on which theshipper should tender the item/shipment to a carrier to ensure that theitem/shipment arrives at a particular destination location by a desireddelivery date. Thus, various embodiments enable shippers to provide adesired destination location and a desired delivery date for theitem/shipment, and the various systems and methods may provideinformation/data indicative of a date on which the shipper should tenderthe item/shipment to the carrier for delivery. In certain embodiments,various computing entities utilized for providing the shipper withtender dates for the shipment may be configured to receive shipmentinformation/data (e.g., identifying the destination location and/ordesired delivery date) from one or more task-management softwareapplications (e.g., to-do list software applications, calendar softwareapplications, contact-management software applications, and/or the like)by extracting data from the task-management software application. Forexample, data indicative of the identity of a shipper (e.g., the user ofthe computing device), a destination location, a desired delivery date,and/or the like may be extracted from a task-management record (e.g., byparsing/extracting text data provided by a user). Moreover, uponidentifying the one or more tender dates for the item/shipment 120,various embodiments may initiate the shipment process for theitem/shipment 120. For example, instead of requiring the shipper toseparately contact the carrier (e.g., through the carrier web site orthrough a brick-and-mortar storefront), the system may initialize theshipment, for example, by populating an electronic shipment record withdata corresponding to the shipment and extracted from thetask-management record. As such, various embodiments may allow users toautomatically initialize the shipment process with substantially lesstime and effort than current technologies.

Moreover, the carrier system may leverage input sources such as taskmanagement systems to proactively suggest one or more alternativeshipping options and/or drop-off locations to facilitate more efficientpick-up and/or delivery. In this regard, the system not only providestimely reminders for the shipper for when to ship a package, but alsobegins to complete a task underlying a task management record (e.g., ato-do list item). Such a configuration ensures the customer/shipper hasaccurate information regarding the shipment process. Furthermore, byremoving the requirement that the customer/shipper separately contactthe carrier (e.g., through the carrier website or through abrick-and-mortar storefront), the carrier system can substantiallyreduce data entry inaccuracies resulting from mishandling/misplacingshipment related data.

The following concepts generally relate to methods, systems, andcomputer products for automatically determining a shipping/tender datein order to ensure that an item/shipment 120 arrives on or by a desireddelivery date, and/or for automatically generating a reminder and/or atask-management item to ship the item on the customer/shipper's customercomputing entity. As will be recognized, this customer computing entitymay be associated with the customer/shipper via a correspondingshipper/customer profile. In one embodiment, the carrier system (and/orother appropriately configured computing entity/entities) may obtainshipping information/data for a proposed shipment in order topredict/determine/identify a shipping/tender date to ensure the shipmentarrives by the desired arrival date. As will be recognized, the proposedshipment may correspond to any shipping related task (e.g. a proposed“return” shipment). Thus, in various embodiments, the shippinginformation/data may comprise (1) the desired arrival date; (2) thedestination location; and (3) the origin location, which may bedetermined automatically based on the current location of the customer'scustomer computing entity. This information/data may be provided by acustomer via a generated user interface, or it may be retrieved fromanother input source such as, for example, another software applicationexecuting on the customer/shipper's customer computing entity, or by anyother suitable method. For example, the system may retrieve shippinginformation/data from a task-management software application and/or acalendar software application executing on the shipper's customercomputing entity.

In one embodiment, based on the received shipping data, which mayinclude the desired arrival date, the origin location, and thedestination location, or which may contain suitable information/data todetermine such information, the carrier system may provide the user withinformation/data identifying one or more proposed shipping/tender datesto ensure the item/shipment arrives by the desired arrival date. Theproposed shipping/tender dates may be generated on a softwareapplication installed on the customer computing entity and may triggeran alert for a user (a) to accept the proposed shipping information/dataand initiate a shipment request or (b) to reject and/or review theproposed shipping information, thereby introducing a finalreview/confirmation process. In one embodiment, each planned shipmentdate may be associated with a different service level (e.g., shipitem/shipment by Day 1 using Next-Day Air; ship by Day 2 using 2-DayAir; ship by Day 3 using ground shipping; and/or the like).

In various embodiments, the system may generate one or more reminders,automatically-triggered alerts, and/or task management items/shipmentsintegrated with task-management software to be provided to the customerto ship the package. As will be discussed in detail below, the timingfor the reminder may be identified based on a particular shippingmethodology selected by the customer. Alternatively, the system mayprovide a reminder corresponding to each shipping service level. Inaddition, the carrier system may provide a reminder when thecustomer/shipper is near a predetermined drop-off location. In suchembodiments, the system may be configured to disable/delete/completerelated reminders upon receiving information/data indicating that thecustomer/shipper has completed the shipping task. Moreover, thereminders may be stored locally on the customer/shipper's customercomputing entity (e.g., smartphone). In such embodiments, the system mayinstruct a native reminder application/task-management application(e.g., to-do list)/calendar application and/or the like to generate andstore reminders/task items/shipments to ship the item/shipment 120. Aswill be explained in detail, various embodiments of the presentinvention facilitate the process of fully integrating carrier system 100(and/or other appropriately configured computing entity/entities) withone or more task-management programs.

I. COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS, METHODS, AND COMPUTING ENTITIES

Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in various ways,including as computer program products that comprise articles ofmanufacture. Such computer program products may include one or moresoftware components including, for example, software objects, methods,information/data structures, or the like. A software component may becoded in any of a variety of programming languages. An illustrativeprogramming language may be a lower-level programming language such asan assembly language associated with a particular hardware architectureand/or operating system platform. A software component comprisingassembly language instructions may require conversion into executablemachine code by an assembler prior to execution by the hardwarearchitecture and/or platform. Another example programming language maybe a higher-level programming language that may be portable acrossmultiple architectures. A software component comprising higher-levelprogramming language instructions may require conversion to anintermediate representation by an interpreter or a compiler prior toexecution.

Other examples of programming languages include, but are not limited to,a macro language, a shell or command language, a job control language, ascript language, a database query or search language, and/or a reportwriting language. In one or more example embodiments, a softwarecomponent comprising instructions in one of the foregoing examples ofprogramming languages may be executed directly by an operating system orother software component without having to be first transformed intoanother form. A software component may be stored as a file or otherinformation/data storage construct. Software components of a similartype or functionally related may be stored together such as, forexample, in a particular directory, folder, or library. Softwarecomponents may be static (e.g., pre-established or fixed) or dynamic(e.g., created or modified at the time of execution).

A computer program product may include a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing applications, programs, programmodules, scripts, source code, program code, object code, byte code,compiled code, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions,and/or the like (also referred to herein as executable instructions,instructions for execution, computer program products, program code,and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably). Such non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media include all computer-readable media(including volatile and non-volatile media).

In one embodiment, a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium mayinclude a floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, solid-state storage(SSS) (e.g., a solid state drive (SSD), solid state card (SSC), solidstate module (SSM), enterprise flash drive, magnetic tape, or any othernon-transitory magnetic medium, and/or the like. A non-volatilecomputer-readable storage medium may also include a punch card, papertape, optical mark sheet (or any other physical medium with patterns ofholes or other optically recognizable indicia), compact disc read onlymemory (CD-ROM), compact disc-rewritable (CD-RW), digital versatile disc(DVD), Blu-ray disc (BD), any other non-transitory optical medium,and/or the like. Such a non-volatile computer-readable storage mediummay also include read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory(PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory (e.g.,Serial, NAND, NOR, and/or the like), multimedia memory cards (MMC),secure digital (SD) memory cards, SmartMedia cards, CompactFlash (CF)cards, Memory Sticks, and/or the like. Further, a non-volatilecomputer-readable storage medium may also include conductive-bridgingrandom access memory (CBRAM), phase-change random access memory (PRAM),ferroelectric random-access memory (FeRAM), non-volatile random-accessmemory (NVRAM), magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM), resistiverandom-access memory (RRAM), Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon memory(SONOS), floating junction gate random access memory (FJG RAM),Millipede memory, racetrack memory, and/or the like.

In one embodiment, a volatile computer-readable storage medium mayinclude random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM),static random access memory (SRAM), fast page mode dynamic random accessmemory (FPM DRAM), extended data-out dynamic random access memory (EDODRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), doubleinformation/data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDRSDRAM), double information/data rate type two synchronous dynamic randomaccess memory (DDR2 SDRAM), double information/data rate type threesynchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR3 SDRAM), Rambus dynamicrandom access memory (RDRAM), Twin Transistor RAM (TTRAM), Thyristor RAM(T-RAM), Zero-capacitor (Z-RAM), Rambus in-line memory module (RIMM),dual in-line memory module (DIMM), single in-line memory module (SIMM),video random access memory (VRAM), cache memory (including variouslevels), flash memory, register memory, and/or the like. It will beappreciated that where embodiments are described to use acomputer-readable storage medium, other types of computer-readablestorage media may be substituted for or used in addition to thecomputer-readable storage media described above.

As should be appreciated, various embodiments of the present inventionmay also be implemented as methods, apparatus, systems, computingdevices, computing entities, and/or the like. As such, embodiments ofthe present invention may take the form of an apparatus, system,computing device, computing entity, and/or the like executinginstructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium to performcertain steps or operations. Thus, embodiments of the present inventionmay also take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirelycomputer program product embodiment, and/or an embodiment that comprisescombination of computer program products and hardware performing certainsteps or operations.

Embodiments of the present invention are described below with referenceto block diagrams and flowchart illustrations. Thus, it should beunderstood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations may be implemented in the form of a computer programproduct, an entirely hardware embodiment, a combination of hardware andcomputer program products, and/or apparatus, systems, computing devices,computing entities, and/or the like carrying out instructions,operations, steps, and similar words used interchangeably (e.g., theexecutable instructions, instructions for execution, program code,and/or the like) on a computer-readable storage medium for execution.For example, retrieval, loading, and execution of code may be performedsequentially such that one instruction is retrieved, loaded, andexecuted at a time. In some exemplary embodiments, retrieval, loading,and/or execution may be performed in parallel such that multipleinstructions are retrieved, loaded, and/or executed together. Thus, suchembodiments can produce specifically-configured machines performing thesteps or operations specified in the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations. Accordingly, the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support various combinations of embodiments for performingthe specified instructions, operations, or steps.

II. EXEMPLARY SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

FIG. 1 provides an illustration of an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 1, various embodiments may includeone or more carrier systems 100, one or more networks 105, and one ormore customer computing entities 110. Each of these components,entities, devices, systems, and similar words used hereininterchangeably may be in direct or indirect communication with, forexample, one another over the same or different wired or wirelessnetworks and/or via any suitable communication interface. Additionally,while FIG. 1 illustrates the various system entities as separate,standalone entities, the various embodiments are not limited to thisparticular architecture.

Exemplary Carrier System

FIG. 2 provides a schematic of a carrier system 100 according to oneembodiment of the present invention. In general, the terms server,computing entity, computer, entity, device, system, and/or similar wordsused herein interchangeably may refer to, for example, one or morecomputers, computing entities, desktop computers, mobile phones,tablets, phablets, notebooks, laptops, distributed systems, dongles,items/devices, input terminals, servers or server networks, blades,gateways, switches, processing devices, processing entities, set-topboxes, relays, routers, network access points, base stations, the like,and/or any combination of devices or entities adapted to perform thefunctions, operations, and/or processes described herein. Suchfunctions, operations, and/or processes may include, for example,transmitting, receiving, operating on, processing, displaying, storing,determining, creating/generating, monitoring, evaluating, comparing,and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably. In one embodiment,these functions, operations, and/or processes can be performed on data,content, information, and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably.

As indicated, in one embodiment, the carrier system 100 may also includeone or more communications interfaces 220 for communicating with variouscomputing entities, such as by communicating data, content, information,and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably that can betransmitted, received, operated on, processed, displayed, stored, and/orthe like.

The carrier system 100 can be operated by various entities, includingcarriers. A carrier may be a traditional carrier, such as United ParcelService (UPS), FedEx, DHL, courier services, the United States PostalService (USPS), Canadian Post, freight companies (e.g. truck-load,less-than-truckload, rail carriers, air carriers, ocean carriers, and/orthe like), and/or the like. However, a carrier may also be anontraditional carrier, such as Amazon, Google, Uber, ride-sharingservices, crowd-sourcing services, retailers, and/or the like. As shownin FIG. 2, in one embodiment, the carrier system 100 may include or bein communication with one or more processing elements 205 (also referredto as processors, processing circuitry, processing device, and/orsimilar terms used herein interchangeably) that communicate with otherelements within the carrier system 100 via a bus, for example. As willbe understood, the processing element 205 may be embodied in a number ofdifferent ways. For example, the processing element 205 may be embodiedas one or more complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), “cloud”processors, microprocessors, multi-core processors, coprocessingentities, application-specific instruction-set processors (ASIPs),microcontrollers, and/or controllers. Further, the processing element205 may be embodied as one or more other processing devices orcircuitry. The term circuitry may refer to an entirely hardwareembodiment or a combination of hardware and computer program products.Thus, the processing element 205 may be embodied as integrated circuits,application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic arrays (PLAs), hardwareaccelerators, other circuitry, and/or the like. As will therefore beunderstood, the processing element 205 may be configured for aparticular use or configured to execute instructions stored in volatileor non-volatile media or otherwise accessible to the processing element205. As such, whether configured by hardware or computer programproducts, or by a combination thereof, the processing element 205 may becapable of performing steps or operations according to embodiments ofthe present invention when configured accordingly.

In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 may further include or be incommunication with non-volatile media (also referred to as non-volatilestorage, memory, memory storage, memory circuitry and/or similar termsused herein interchangeably). In one embodiment, the non-volatilestorage or memory may include one or more non-volatile storage or memorymedia 210, including but not limited to hard disks, ROM, PROM, EPROM,EEPROM, flash memory, MMCs, SD memory cards, Memory Sticks, CBRAM, PRAM,FeRAM, NVRAM, MRAM, RRAM, SONOS, FJG RAM, Millipede memory, racetrackmemory, and/or the like. As will be recognized, the non-volatile storageor memory media may store databases, database instances, databasemanagement systems, data, applications, programs, program modules,scripts, source code, object code, byte code, compiled code, interpretedcode, machine code, executable instructions, and/or the like. The termdatabase, database instance, database management system, electronictask-management database, and/or similar terms used hereininterchangeably may refer to a collection of records or information/datathat is stored in a computer-readable storage medium using one or moredatabase models, such as a hierarchical database model, network model,relational model, entity—relationship model, object model, documentmodel, semantic model, graph model, and/or the like.

In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 may further include or be incommunication with volatile media (also referred to as volatile storage,memory, memory storage, memory circuitry and/or similar terms usedherein interchangeably). In one embodiment, the volatile storage ormemory may also include one or more volatile storage or memory media215, including but not limited to RAM, DRAM, SRAM, FPM DRAM, EDO DRAM,SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM, RDRAM, TTRAM, T-RAM, Z-RAM,RIMM, DIMM, SIMM, VRAM, cache memory, register memory, and/or the like.As will be recognized, the volatile storage or memory media may be usedto store at least portions of the databases, database instances,database management systems, data, applications, programs, programmodules, scripts, source code, object code, byte code, compiled code,interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions, and/or the likebeing executed by, for example, the processing element 205. Thus, thedatabases, database instances, database management systems, data,applications, programs, program modules, scripts, source code, objectcode, byte code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code,executable instructions, and/or the like may be used to control certainaspects of the operation of the carrier system 100 with the assistanceof the processing element 205 and operating system.

As indicated, in one embodiment, the carrier system 100 may also includeone or more communications interfaces 220 for communicating with variouscomputing entities, such as by communicating data, content, information,and/or similar terms used herein interchangeably that can betransmitted, received, operated on, processed, displayed, stored, and/orthe like. Such communication may be executed using a wiredinformation/data transmission protocol, such as fiber distributedinformation/data interface (FDDI), digital subscriber line (DSL),Ethernet, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), frame relay,information/data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS), orany other wired transmission protocol. Similarly, the carrier system 100may be configured to communicate via wireless external communicationnetworks (and/or via any suitable communication interface) using any ofa variety of protocols, such as general packet radio service (GPRS),Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Code DivisionMultiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), CDMA2000 1× (1×RTT), Wideband CodeDivision Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Enhanced information/data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access(TD-SCDMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Universal TerrestrialRadio Access Network (E-UTRAN), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO), HighSpeed Packet Access (HSPA), High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA),IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), Wi-Fi Direct, 802.16 (WiMAX), ultra wideband (UWB),infrared (IR) protocols, near field communication (NFC) protocols,Wibree, Bluetooth protocols, wireless universal serial bus (USB)protocols, and/or any other wireless protocol.

Although not shown, the carrier system 100 may include or be incommunication with one or more input elements, such as a keyboard input,a mouse input, a touch screen/display input, motion input, movementinput, audio input, pointing device input, joystick input, keypad input,and/or the like. The carrier system 100 may also include or be incommunication with one or more output elements (not shown), such asaudio output, video output, screen/display output, motion output,movement output, and/or the like.

As will be appreciated, one or more of the carrier system's 100components may be located remotely from other carrier system 100components, such as in a distributed system. Furthermore, one or more ofthe components may be combined and additional components performingfunctions described herein may be included in the carrier system 100.Thus, the carrier system 100 can be adapted to accommodate a variety ofneeds and circumstances. As will be recognized, these architectures anddescriptions are provided for exemplary purposes only and are notlimiting to the various embodiments.

Exemplary Customer Computing Entity

A customer may be an individual, a family, a family member, a company,an organization, an entity, a department within an organization, arepresentative of an organization and/or person, and/or the like.Depending on the context, customers may be consignors/shippers and/orconsignees/recipients. Accordingly, the term customer may refer to bothconsignors/shippers and/or consignees/recipients interchangeably. FIG. 3provides an illustrative schematic representative of a customercomputing entity 110 (also referred to as a mobile device) that can beused in conjunction with embodiments of the present invention. In oneembodiment, the customer computing entities 110 may include one or morecomponents that are functionally similar to those of the carrier system100 and/or as described below. As shown in FIG. 3, a customer computingentity 110 (also referred to herein interchangeably as the mobiledevice) can include an antenna 312, a transmitter 304 (e.g., radio), areceiver 306 (e.g., radio), and a processing element 308 that providessignals to and receives signals from the transmitter 304 and receiver306, respectively.

The signals provided to and received from the transmitter 304 and thereceiver 306, respectively, may include signaling information/data inaccordance with an air interface standard of applicable wireless systemsto communicate with various entities, such as vehicles, carrier system100, and/or the like. In this regard, the customer computing entity 110may be capable of operating with one or more air interface standards,communication protocols, modulation types, and access types. Moreparticularly, the customer computing entity 110 may operate inaccordance with any of a number of wireless communication standards andprotocols. In a particular embodiment, the customer computing entity 110may operate in accordance with multiple wireless communication standardsand protocols, such as GPRS, UMTS, CDMA2000, 1×RTT, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA,LTE, E-UTRAN, EVDO, HSPA, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, UWB, IR protocols,Bluetooth protocols, USB protocols, and/or any other wireless protocol.

Via these communication standards and protocols, the customer computingentity 110 can communicate with various other entities using conceptssuch as Unstructured Supplementary Service information/data (USSD),Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS),Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency Signaling (DTMF), and/or Subscriber IdentityModule Dialer (SIM dialer). The customer computing entity 110 can alsodownload changes, add-ons, and updates, for instance, to its firmware,software (e.g., including executable instructions, applications, programmodules), and operating system. For example, in one embodiment, thecustomer computing entity 110 may store and execute a carrierapplication to assist in communicating with the carrier and/or forproviding location services regarding the same.

According to one embodiment, the customer computing entity 110 mayinclude location determining aspects, devices, modules, functionalities,and/or similar words used herein interchangeably. For example, thecustomer computing entity 110 may include outdoor positioning aspects,such as a location module adapted to acquire, for example, latitude,longitude, altitude, geocode, course, direction, heading, speed, UTC,date, and/or various other information/data. In one embodiment, thelocation module can acquire data, sometimes known as ephemeris data, byidentifying the number of satellites in view and the relative positionsof those satellites. The satellites may be a variety of differentsatellites, including LEO satellite systems, DOD satellite systems, theEuropean Union Galileo positioning systems, the Chinese Compassnavigation systems, Indian Regional Navigational satellite systems,and/or the like. Alternatively, the location information/data may bedetermined by triangulating the customer computing entity's 105 positionin connection with a variety of other systems, including cellulartowers, Wi-Fi access points, and/or the like. Similarly, the customercomputing entity 110 may include indoor positioning aspects, such as alocation module adapted to acquire, for example, latitude, longitude,altitude, geocode, course, direction, heading, speed, time, date, and/orvarious other information/data. Some of the indoor aspects may usevarious position or location technologies including RFID tags, indoorbeacons or transmitters, Wi-Fi access points, cellular towers, nearbycomputing devices (e.g., smartphones, laptops) and/or the like. Forinstance, such technologies may include iBeacons, Gimbal proximitybeacons, BLE transmitters, NFC transmitters, and/or the like. Theseindoor positioning aspects can be used in a variety of settings todetermine the location of someone or something to within inches orcentimeters.

The customer computing entity 110 may also comprise a user interface(that can include a display 316 coupled to a processing element 308)and/or a user input interface (coupled to a processing element 308). Forexample, the user interface may be an application, browser, userinterface, dashboard, webpage, and/or similar words used hereininterchangeably executing on and/or accessible via the customercomputing entity 110 to interact with and/or cause display ofinformation. The user input interface can comprise any of a number ofdevices allowing the customer computing entity 110 to receive data, suchas a keypad 318 (hard or soft), a touch display, voice/speech or motioninterfaces, scanners, readers, or other input device. In embodimentsincluding a keypad 318, the keypad 318 can include (or cause display of)the conventional numeric (0-9) and related keys (#, *), and other keysused for operating the customer computing entity 110 and may include afull set of alphabetic keys or set of keys that may be activated toprovide a full set of alphanumeric keys. In addition to providing input,the user input interface can be used, for example, to activate ordeactivate certain functions, such as screen savers and/or sleep modes.Through such inputs the customer computing entity can collect contextualinformation/data as part of the telematics data.

The customer computing entity 110 can also include volatile storage ormemory 322 and/or non-volatile storage or memory 324, which can beembedded and/or may be removable. For example, the non-volatile memorymay be ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, MMCs, SD memory cards,Memory Sticks, CBRAM, PRAM, FeRAM, RRAM, SONOS, racetrack memory, and/orthe like. The volatile memory may be RAM, DRAM, SRAM, FPM DRAM, EDODRAM, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM, RDRAM, RIMM, DIMM, SIMM,VRAM, cache memory, register memory, and/or the like. The volatile andnon-volatile storage or memory can store databases, database instances,database management system entities, data, applications, programs,program modules, scripts, source code, object code, byte code, compiledcode, interpreted code, machine code, executable instructions, and/orthe like to implement the functions of the customer computing entity110.

In another embodiment, the customer computing entity 110 may include oneor more components or functionality that are the same or similar tothose of the carrier system 100, as described in greater detail above.As will be recognized, these architectures and descriptions are providedfor exemplary purposes only and are not limiting to the variousembodiments.

Exemplary Item/Shipment 120

In one embodiment, an item/shipment 120 may be any tangible and/orphysical object. In one embodiment, an item/shipment 120 may be or beenclosed in one or more packages, envelopes, parcels, bags, goods,products, containers, loads, crates, items/shipments 120 bandedtogether, vehicle parts, pallets, drums, the like, and/or similar wordsused herein interchangeably. In one embodiment, each item/shipment 120may include and/or be associated with item/shipment 120 identifier, suchas an alphanumeric identifier. Such item/shipment 120 identifiers may berepresented as text, barcodes, tags, character strings, Aztec Codes,MaxiCodes, information/data Matrices, Quick Response (QR) Codes,electronic representations, and/or the like. A unique item/shipment 120identifier (e.g., 123456789) may be used by the carrier to identify andtrack the item/shipment 120 as it moves through the carrier'stransportation network. Further, such item/shipment 120 identifiers canbe affixed to shipments/items 120 by, for example, using a sticker(e.g., label) with the unique item/shipment 120 identifier printedthereon (in human and/or machine readable form) or an RFID tag with theunique item/shipment 120 identifier stored therein. Such items/shipments120 may be referred to as “connected” shipments/items 120 (e.g.,“Internet of Things” enabled shipments/items 120, “IOT” enabledshipments/items 120, and/or the like) or “non-connected” shipments/items120.

In one embodiment, connected shipments/items 120 include the ability todetermine their locations and/or communicate with various computingentities. This may include the item/shipment 120 being able tocommunicate via a chip or other devices, such as an integrated circuitchip, RFID technology, Near Field Communication (NFC) technology,Bluetooth technology, Wi-Fi technology, and any other suitablecommunication techniques, standards, or protocols with one anotherand/or communicate with various computing entities for a variety ofpurposes. Connected shipments/items 120 may include one or morecomponents that are functionally similar to those of the carrier system100 and/or the customer computing entity 110 as described herein. Forexample, in one embodiment, each connected item/shipment 120 may includeone or more processing elements, one or more display device/inputdevices (e.g., including user interfaces), volatile and non-volatilestorage or memory, and/or one or more communications interfaces. In thisregard, in some example embodiments, an item/shipment 120 maycommunicate send “to” address information/data, received “from” addressinformation/data, unique identifier codes, location information/data,status information/data, and/or various other information/data.

In one embodiment, non-connected shipments/items 120 do not typicallyinclude the ability to determine their locations and/or might not beable communicate with various computing entities or are not designatedto do so by the carrier. The location of non-connected shipments/items120 can be determined with the aid of other appropriate computingentities. For example, non-connected shipments/items 120 can be scanned(e.g., affixed barcodes, RFID tags, and/or the like) or have containersor vehicles in which they are located scanned or located. As will berecognized, an actual scan or location determination of an item/shipment120 is not necessarily required to determine the location of anitem/shipment 120. That is, a scanning operation might not actually beperformed on a label affixed directly to an item/shipment 120 orlocation determination might not be made specifically for or by anitem/shipment 120. For example, a label on a larger container housingmany shipments/items 120 can be scanned, and by association, thelocation of the shipments/items 120 housed within the container areconsidered to be located in the container at the scanned location.Similarly, the location of a vehicle transporting many shipments/items120 can be determined, and by association, the location of theshipments/items 120 being transported by a vehicle are considered to belocated in the vehicle at the determined location. These can be referredto as “logical” scans/determinations or “virtual” scans/determinations.Thus, the location of the shipments/items 120 is based on the assumptionthey are within the container or vehicle, despite the fact that one ormore of such shipments/items 120 might not actually be there.

In various embodiments, shipments/items 120 may have associated PackageLevel Detail (“PLD”) information/data associated therewith. The PLDinformation/data may be stored in a PLD database comprising one or morePLD profiles corresponding to each of a plurality of shipments/items120. For example, the PLD information/data for a particularitem/shipment 120 may comprise information/data indicative of anitem/shipment 120 identifier associated with the item/shipment 120, anintended destination for the item/shipment 120, the current location ofthe item/shipment 120, a vehicle and/or storage location containing theitem/shipment 120, and/or the like. In various embodiments, the PLDinformation/data for a particular item/shipment 120 may be updated toreflect current information/data for a particular item/shipment 120, forexample, as the item/shipment 120 is transported by the carrier betweenan origin and a destination. For example, the current location of anitem/shipment 120 may be updated to reflect the current location of theitem/shipment 120. The current location of the item/shipment 120 may bereflective of a precise location determined by, for example, GPS orother location determining devices, or a location relative to othercarrier locations (e.g., within a particular carrier hub, within aparticular carrier vehicle, and/or the like). Moreover, the PLDinformation/data may be indicative of a current status of theitem/shipment 120 relative to its intended delivery location. Forexample, the PLD information/data may indicate that an item/shipment 120is “in transit” while the item/shipment 120 is in the possession of thecarrier and prior to delivery, and “delivered” after the item/shipment120 has been dropped off at its intended destination.

Moreover, in various embodiments, the PLD information/data may comprisecontact information/data for an entity associated with the item/shipment120 (e.g., the item/shipment 120 recipient). For example, the contactinformation/data may comprise an email address, telephone number, socialmedia username (e.g., twitter username, Instagram username, and/or thelike), and/or the like. In various embodiments, the contactinformation/data may be stored in association with PLD information/datafor an item/shipment 120 based on user input providing information/dataspecific to a particular item/shipment 120 (e.g., when the item/shipment120 is provided to the carrier). In certain embodiments, the contactinformation/data may be obtained automatically from a customer profiledatabase comprising information/data for a plurality of item/shipment120 recipients, shippers, and/or the like. As a non-limiting example,the contact information/data for a particular item/shipment 120 may beidentified by comparing the PLD information/data for a particularitem/shipment 120 against customer profile information/data stored inthe customer profile database. Upon identifying a match between the PLDinformation/data and information/data corresponding to a particularcustomer profile (e.g., based on a match between the destinationlocation for the item/shipment 120 and an address associated with acustomer profile), contact information/data stored in association withthe customer profile may be associated with the PLD information/data forthe item/shipment 120.

Exemplary Task-Management Program

In certain embodiments, a task-management program 610 may be anyprogram, group of programs, embedded software package, hardware, and/orcloud-based system that is designed for the end user for the purposes ofinitializing/recording/facilitating task-management. For example, thetask-management program 610 may correspond to and/or comprises: a to-dolist application (e.g., Wunderlist, Todoist, Remember the Milk, etc.), avoice assistant application (e.g., Siri, Cortana, Google Now, etc.), anote-taking application (e.g., Evernote, OneNote, Apple Notes, etc.), aninstant messaging application (e.g., iMessage, WhatsApp, Hangouts, Allo,Slack, etc.), a camera application, a database program, a wordprocessor, a web browser, a spreadsheet application, a calendarapplication, a reminder application, an email client application, and/orthe like.

In various embodiments, the task-management program 610 may store inputfrom the end user in the form of task-management information/datarecords. For example, task-management program 610 may comprise aninternal database configured to store task-management information/datarecords. Moreover, the task-management program 610 may comprise softwareto enable bi-directional access to such task-management information/datarecords. For example, the task-management program 610 may comprise anapplication programming interface (API) that enables external softwareapplications to download the contents of the task-managementinformation/data records by sending a structured query to a web-enabledcontroller of the API. In certain embodiments, the task-managementprogram 610 may be in communication with one or more external softwareapplications, and accordingly the task-management program 610 may beconfigured (e.g. via an API) to directly integrate/associate/communicatewith the carrier system 100, for example to initialize and transmitnewly added electronic task-management records to the carrier system100.

Exemplary Customer Profile

At a high level, integration with a task-management program on acustomer computing entity 110 may involve accessing information/dataassociated with the user of the customer computing entity 110 (e.g., ashipper of an item/shipment 120) and storing shipping information/datacontaining descriptions and/or part numbers in some manner. In variousembodiments, this process may be accomplished withenrollment/registration of one or more customers for a customer deliveryprogram. Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/174,299, filedJun. 30, 2011 and entitled “Customer Controlled Management ofShipments,” which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety,describes a registration process and operations of various customerdelivery programs that may operate in conjunction with embodiments ofthe present invention. A customer may be an individual, a family, acompany, an organization, an entity, a department within anorganization, a representative of an organization and/or person, and/orthe like. To register, a customer (e.g., a customer or customerrepresentative operating a customer computing entity 110) may access awebpage or portal of a carrier, such as UPS. For instance, the carriersystem 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may transmit a webpage that provides the customer withan option of logging into a customer account or enrolling/registeringfor a social customer delivery program via public social networks,business social networks and/or a private social network provided by thecarrier. Moreover, in various embodiments, a customer may register byactivating a stand-alone software application stored on the customercomputing entity 110 that provides one or more user interfaces forreceiving information/data from the customer for registering with thecarrier. In various embodiments, the stand-alone software applicationmay be configured to cause the customer computing entity 110 to transmitand/or receive information/data to/from the carrier system 100 duringthe registration process.

In one embodiment, as part of the enrollment/registration process, thecustomer (e.g., a customer or customer representative operating acustomer computing entity 110) may be requested to provide biographicand/or geographic information/data to the carrier system 100 (and/orother appropriately configured computing entity/entities). For instance,the customer may provide the customer's name, such as a first name, alast name, a company name, an entity name, and/or an organization name.The customer may also provide any aliases associated with the customer.For instance, if the customer were an individual named Joseph Brown, thecustomer may provide Joe Brown or Joey Brown as aliases. Moreover, invarious embodiments, the aliases may comprise one or more usernamesassociated with the user. For example, the aliases may comprise one ormore social media usernames associated with the user, one or moredesired user names to be associated with the user, and/or the like. Thecustomer may also provide one or more addresses associated with thecustomer (e.g., street address, city, state, postal code, and/orcountry). For instance, Joseph Brown's address may be 105 Main Street,Atlanta, Ga. 30309, USA. As indicated, the customer may have multipleaddresses associated with the account. For instance, Joseph Brown mayhave a home address and a business address associated with his account.Similarly, an organization may have multiple locations (e.g., addresses)associated with its account. When multiple addresses are provided, thecustomer may indicate which address should be used as the primaryaddress. As will be recognized, the customer may provide otherbiographic and/or geographic information/data to adapt to various needsand circumstances.

In one embodiment, once the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) receives thenecessary biographic and/or geographic information/data from thecustomer or customer's external social network, the carrier system 100may perform one or more validation operations. The carrier system 100(and/or other appropriately configured computing entity/entities) maydetermine whether the primary address (and/or other addresses) is valid,e.g., by passing the primary address through one or more addresscleansing or standardization systems. The carrier system 100 may performa variety of fraud prevention measures as well, such as determiningwhether the customer or one of the customer's addresses has been“blacklisted” from customer delivery programs. As will be recognized, avariety of other approaches and techniques can be used to adapt tovarious needs and circumstances.

In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 may create a customer profilefor the customer via the enrollment/registration process. Accordingly,the carrier system 100 may create and store various customer profiles(e.g., via a database and/or carrier (private) internal social network).In addition to at least the information/data described above, a customerprofile may include one or more corresponding usernames and passwords.Additionally, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may also create and store acustomer identifier (e.g., personal ID) in association with the customerprofile. In one embodiment, a customer identifier may be used touniquely identify a customer profile. In another embodiment, a customeridentifier may be used to uniquely identify a given address associatedwith a customer profile and/or carrier (private) internal socialnetwork. In such an embodiment, if a customer profile is associated withfour addresses, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may create and store four customeridentifiers in association with the customer profile. The customeridentifier may also be stored in association with shippinginformation/data for an item/shipment 120 to associate the item/shipment120 (and its shipping data) with the (a) correct customer (e.g.,customer profile) and/or (b) correct address for a customer. In variousembodiments, a customer identifier may be used in place of an address onan item/shipment 120 as will be discussed in greater detail below.

In one embodiment, a customer profile within a carrier social networkmay correspond to one or more customer delivery programs. For instance,a customer (e.g., a customer or customer representative operating acustomer computing entity 110) may subscribe to one or more specificcustomer delivery programs. For example, the various customer deliveryprograms may allow customers to have access to certain features, e.g.,delivery alerts, approximate delivery times, change delivery options,electronically authorize the release of an item, and/or routeitems/shipments 120 to will call. Other customer delivery programs mayinclude allowing customers to route items/shipments 120 to other retaillocations, reschedule deliveries, request that items/shipments 120 bedelivered to another address, and/or provide instructions for delivery.As will be recognized, these features are provided for illustrativepurposes and are not limiting to embodiments of the present invention.Moreover, a variety of other approaches and techniques can be used toadapt to various needs and circumstances.

In one embodiment, once a customer profile has been created, thecustomer (e.g., a customer or customer representative operating acustomer computing entity 110) can provide various preferencesassociated with the customer delivery program to the carrier system 100via a webpage, for example. For instance, the customer (e.g., a customeror customer representative operating a customer computing entity 110)can provide a variety of preferences, such communication preferences,delivery preferences, delivery options, and/or delivery instructions.

The carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may also provide a list of social network options fromwhich the user may select. These options may include public Open SocialNetworks (e.g., Facebook, FourSquare, etc.), private carrier serviceCustomer Social Networks (a private social network maintained by thecarrier for users of the Delivery Service), a private Carrier ServiceSocial Networks (a private social network maintained and constructed bythe carrier via the carrier's internal operations' information/data toidentify the members of a social network for consolidated deliveries), auser's Business Social Networks (e.g., Yammer, Socialcast, etc.) and/ora vehicle social network. Other social network options may be includedas well. As will be discussed in greater detail below, information/dataretrieved from these social networks may provide locationinformation/data regarding the customer and thus be used to identifypossible delivery locations.

Moreover, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configuredcomputing entity/entities) may also provide the capability to setup adefault configuration to be stored in the customer profile. For example,in the event that carrier system 100 is unable to collect certainparameters from the task-management program 610 and/or theinformation/data collected from task-management program 610 is ambiguous(e.g., the information/data collected from task-management program 610may refer to a plurality of possible options), the carrier system 100(and/or other appropriately configured computing entity/entities) mayutilize the default configuration (which may be stored in the customerprofile) to facilitate a shipment and/or to generate a task-managementrecord as discussed herein. In one embodiment, this defaultconfiguration may be stored in a database 510 and thus accessible by thecarrier system 100. For example, the default configuration may contain adefault tender date if no such tender date is found from accessing theappropriate information/data from task-management program 610. Thisdefault tender date may correspond to the delivery preferences stored inthe customer profile. For example, if the delivery preferences of thecustomer defaults to 2-Day Air, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may assign thetender date to be two days before the planned arrival date. Moreover,the default configuration may identify a default planned arrival datethat may be identified based at least in part on a current date and/ortime. For example, the default configuration may be configured toidentify a default planned arrival date as a predefined number of daysin the future from the current date and/or time. As a specific example,the default configuration may be configured to identify a defaultplanned arrival date as 6-days from the present date.

In another embodiment, the default configuration may assign the tenderdate utilizing a configurable timespan (e.g., one week) from the datethe carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) obtained the information/data record fromtask-management program 610. In one embodiment, other types ofinformation/data may be provided via the default configuration in thecustomer profile as well. For example, the from-address, auser-selectable toggle on whether to default to the from-address (vsdefaulting to the shipper/customer 525's location), and/or the like.

Exemplary Location-Based Alerts/Notifications

In certain embodiments, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) can automaticallyprovide (e.g., generate, queue, and/or transmit) one or morelocation-based notifications/messages based on theconfigurable/determinable parameters for a given account. For example,the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) can automatically provide the location-basednotifications/messages regarding items/shipments 120 that may need to beprovided to a carrier. As will be recognized, this may includegenerating, queuing, and/or transmitting an email message to acustomer's email address, a text message to a customer's cellular phone,a notification/message to a designated application, and/or the likebased on the configurable/determinable parameters.

In one embodiment, to provide the location-based notifications/messages,the customer computing entity 110, carrier system 100, and/or a varietyof other computing entities may perform location-based monitoring ordeterminations based on the configurable/determinable parameters for agiven account. The location-based monitoring or determinations forentities and/or locations may be performed by an appropriate computingentity regularly, periodically, continuously, during certain timeperiods or time frames, on certain days, upon determining the occurrenceof one or more configurable triggers/events, in response to requests, inresponse to determinations/identifications, combinations thereof, and/orthe like. For example, an appropriate computing entity can monitor ordetermine/identify the locations of the various entities (e.g.,item/shipment 120, carrier system 100, customer computing entities 110,and/or the like) and/or establishments/locations in response to certaintriggers/events or requests. For example, the monitoring ordeterminations may only occur after task-management items/shipments 120have been processed. In such an example, the processing of atask-management entry may trigger the setting a monitoring flag,initiate the monitoring, initiate a determination, and/or the like.Similarly, in one embodiment, the processing of a task-management entrymay trigger the automatic generation and queueing of one or morenotifications/messages regarding the same. The notifications/messagescan be automatically provided when the relevantconfigurable/determinable parameters are satisfied.

In one embodiment, the monitoring or determining/identifying can beinitiated using a variety of different triggers. For examples, thetriggers/events may include (a) a customer's customer computing entity110 being turned on or off; (b) a customer's customer computing entity110 beginning to move; (c) a customer computing entity 110 moving out ofa geofenced area; (e) a customer computing entity 110 moving into ageofenced area; and/or a variety of other triggers/events. As will berecognized, a variety of other approaches and techniques can be used toadapt to various needs and circumstances.

In one embodiment, if a configurable trigger/event is not detected or arequest is not received, an appropriate computing entity (e.g., carriersystem 100, customer computing entity 110, and/or the like) candetermine/identify whether a configurable time period has begun orended. If the appropriate computing entity (e.g., carrier system 100,customer computing entity 110, and/or the like) determines/identifiesthat the configurable time period has not begun or ended, theappropriate computing entity can continue monitoring for configurabletriggers/events or requests. However, if the appropriate computingentity (e.g., carrier system 100, customer computing entity 110, and/orthe like) determines/identifies that the configurable time period hasbegun or ended, the appropriate computing entity can continuouslymonitor whether the relevant configurable/determinable parameters aresatisfied. The monitoring may continue indefinitely, until theoccurrence of one or more configurable triggers/events, until aconfigurable time period has elapsed, combinations thereof, and/or thelike.

Generally, the locations of various entities (carrier system 100,customer computing entities 110, and/or the like) can be monitored ordetermined/identified by any of a variety of computingentities—including carrier system 100, customer computing entities 110,and/or the like. For example, the locations may be monitored ordetermined/identified with the aid of or in coordination withlocation-determining devices, location-determining aspects,location-determining features, location-determining functionality,location-determining sensors, and/or other location services. Such mayinclude GPS; cellular assisted GPS; real time location systems or servertechnologies using received signal strength indicators from a Wi-Finetwork and/or via any suitable communication interface); triangulatingpositions in connection with a variety of other systems, includingcellular towers, Wi-Fi access points, and/or the like; and/or the like.Using these and other approaches and techniques, an appropriatecomputing entity (e.g., carrier system 100, customer computing entity110, and/or the like) can determine, for example, whether and whenentities are within a configurable/determinable distance/proximity fromone another and/or a known location.

In one embodiment, the configurable/determinable distance/proximity maybe a distance, range, zone of confidence, proximity, geofence,tolerance, and/or similar words used herein interchangeably. Forexample, in one embodiment, the configurable/determinabledistance/proximity may be plus or minus (±) a specific distance or rangeusing a coordinate system (e.g., DD, DMS, UTM, and/or CARRIER). As willbe recognized, a configurable/determinable distance/proximity may be ina variety of formats, such as degrees, minutes, seconds, feet, meters,miles (e.g., 3, 15, 30, or 50 feet), kilometers, and/or the like.Continuing with the above example, an appropriate computing entity mayuse a configurable/determinable distance/proximity of ±0.000001,±0.000001 in the DD coordinate system (or configurable/determinabledistance/proximities of ±0.000100, ±0.000100 or ±0.000010, ±0.000010) todetermine/identify when configurable/determinable parameters for acustomer are satisfied.

In the event such entities are within a configurable/determinabledistance/proximity from each other (e.g., associated with one another)or from a known/determined location in accordance with theconfigurable/determinable parameters, an appropriate computing entity(e.g., carrier system 100, customer computing entity 110, and/or thelike) can make this determination/identification and indicate or providean indication of the same. The indication may include device/entityinformation/data associated with the corresponding customer computingentity 110 and/or customer computing entity 110, such as thecorresponding device identifiers and names. The indication may alsoinclude other information/data, such as the location at which theestablishments/locations and/or entities became within theconfigurable/determinable distance/proximity of each other or aknown/determined location, the time at which the entities became withinthe configurable/determinable distance/proximity of each other or aknown/determined location, the type of event (e.g., dropping off anitem, and/or the like), and/or the like. In some embodiments, theappropriate computing entity can determine/identify the type of event.The appropriate computing entity (e.g., carrier system 100, customercomputing entity 110, and/or the like) can then store theinformation/data in one more records and/or in association with theaccount, subscription, program, and/or the like corresponding to theshipper/customer.

The appropriate computing entity can also provide location-basednotifications/messages in accordance with the correspondingnotification/message preferences. In one embodiment, an appropriatecomputing entity can provide location-based notifications/messages whenthe configurable/determinable parameters are satisfied. For instance,when an appropriate computing entity determines/identifies that theconfigurable/determinable parameters for an account are satisfied, theappropriate computing entity can automatically provide appropriatelocation-based queued notifications/messages and/or automaticallygenerate, queue, and transmit appropriate location-basednotifications/messages in compliance with the correspondingnotification/message preferences. By way of example, assume John(carrying his customer computing entity 110) arrives near a knowndrop-off location, such as a UPS store, (34.3218697, −83.1239871) andenters a geofence or is within a configurable/determinabledistance/proximity (e.g., ±0.000001, ±0.000001) of the known drop-offlocation (e.g., a UPS store). An appropriate computing entity can makesuch a determination/identification based on the monitoring. Inresponse, an appropriate computing entity (e.g., carrier system 100,user computing entity 110, and/or the like) can automatically provideappropriate location-based queued notifications/messages and/orautomatically generate, queue, and transmit appropriate location-basednotifications/messages.

Exemplary Networks

In one embodiment, any two or more of the illustrative components of thearchitecture of FIG. 1 may be configured to communicate with one anothervia respective communicative couplings to one or more networks 105. Thenetworks 105 may include, but are not limited to, any one or acombination of different types of suitable communications networksand/or suitable communication interfaces, such as, for example, cablenetworks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks (e.g.,frame-relay networks), wireless networks, cellular networks, telephonenetworks (e.g., a public switched telephone network), or any othersuitable private and/or public networks. Further, the networks 105 mayhave any suitable communication range associated therewith and mayinclude, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitanarea networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks(LANs), or personal area networks. In addition, the networks 105 mayinclude any type of medium over which network traffic may be carriedincluding, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, opticalfiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrialtransceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, satellitecommunication mediums, or any combination thereof, as well as a varietyof network devices and computing platforms provided by network providersor other entities.

III. EXEMPLARY SYSTEM OPERATION

Reference will now be made to FIGS. 4, 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B,and 9. FIGS. 4, 5A, 5B, and 9 are flow diagrams illustrating operations,steps, and processes that may be performed for classifying a commodityand/or incorporating a prediction feedback system.

Exemplary Carrier System Operation

FIG. 4 is an exemplary high level flow diagram of a process forintegrating shipping logistics with a task-management program 610. Asdiscussed herein, various shipment tasks encompassing shipment from anorigin to a destination may comprise one or more electronic components.For example, in addition to physically transferring a shipped item froman origin to a destination, shipment tasks may comprise generatingitem/shipment information/data transmitted to the carrier, tracking thelocation of the item/shipment 120 as it moves through a carrier'slogistics network, and/or the like. Accordingly, initializing anitem/shipment 120 in anticipation of shipping the shipment/item 120 maycomprise generating electronic item/shipment information/data to beutilized by the carrier, for example, to track the location of theitem/shipment 120 as it moves through the carrier's logistics networkbetween the origin and the destination corresponding to theitem/shipment. As discussed in greater detail herein, the customercomputing entity 110 and/or the carrier system 100 may be configured tofacilitate the completion of one or more electronic components of ashipment task upon determining that a particular task-management recordis indicative of an anticipated shipment task. For example, the carriersystem 100 may identify a particular shipment-related task managementrecord as comprising one or more keywords (e.g., “ship,” “send”, and/or“determine”) thus requiring an additional electronic component/module tocomplete the electronic shipping task (or shipment-related task)retrieved from the shipment information/data.

As discussed herein, a customer computing entity 110 (e.g., asmartphone) is associated with a customer/shipper 525, such that thecarrier system 100 may receive shipment information/data for aprospective item/shipment 120 from the customer computing entity 110 toinitialize a shipment and/or to identify one or more tender dates bywhich the item/shipment 120 should be provided to the carrier. Forexample, the mobile device and/or other customer computing device 110may comprise a non-transitory memory storing information/dataidentifying the shipper/user associated with the mobile device. Invarious embodiments, the information/data identifying the shipper/userassociated with the customer computing entity 110 may be stored withinthe memory of the mobile device such that the carrier system 100 mayreceive the information/data identifying the shipper/user, for example,in response to receipt of information/data indicating the shipper/userdesires to ship an item/shipment 120. As discussed herein, upon receiptof shipment information/data from a customer computing entity 110, thecarrier system 100 may be configured to identify a customer/shipper 525associated with the customer computing entity 110.

In one embodiment, this information/data may be generated by atask-management application (e.g., to-do list, reminder, calendarsoftware application, and/or the like) stored on the customer computingentity 110. The carrier system 100 may receive shipment information/datafrom the customer computing entity 110 via at least one of a pluralityof possible communication mechanisms, as indicated in Block 400 of FIG.4. For example, the task-management program 610 may directly communicatewith the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configuredcomputing entity/entities), for example via a wireless communicationnetwork through an application programming interface (API). In thismanner, the task-management program 610 may transmit information/data(e.g., item/shipment 120 information/data as discussed herein) to thecarrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities), for example, in response to the receipt of user inputreceived by the customer computing entity 110 providing information/dataindicative of a prospective item/shipment 120. Alternatively, thecarrier system 100 may periodically query the task-management program610 for all the information/data updates since the last query.

In other embodiments, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may interact with thetask-management program 610 through a “bridging” module. This bridgingmodule may be a client-side software application that is affiliated withthe carrier system 100 (e.g., a mobile device software applicationpublished by a carrier) and/or has access to all appropriateinformation/data stored in the customer profile. In such aconfiguration, the customer/shipper 525 may register and/or log-in tothe bridging module to access their respective default configurationsstored in the customer profile. This may allow the carrier system 100(and/or other appropriately configured computing entity/entities) tointegrate with the task-management program 610 in a more secure fashion.Additionally, the bridging module may proactively download all relevantinformation/data from the customer profile to reduce the amount ofnetwork transactions (e.g., https requests) between the carrier system100 and the task-management program 610.

In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may receive 400 shipmentinformation/data for a prospective item/shipment 120 from the customercomputing entity 110 comprising an image of an item/shipment 120. Forexample, the customer/shipper 525 may utilize a camera associated with acustomer computing entity 110 (e.g., a still-frame camera and/or a videocamera) to capture and/or scan an image of an item/shipment 120. Invarious embodiments, the image may comprise information/data specific tothe item/shipment 120, such as information/data identifying adestination location, an origin location, a service level, and/or thelike. The information/data specific to the item/shipment 120 may beprinted or otherwise secured to the item/shipment 120, and/or it may beproximate to the item/shipment 120. The carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may subsequentlyutilize optical character recognition (OCR) techniques to convert theinformation/data corresponding to the item/shipment 120 intomachine-encoded text. If the image does not identify information/datacorresponding to the item/shipment 120, the carrier system 100 may allowthe customer/shipper 525 to complete the shipping information/data usingother methods previously described. Moreover, if the camera is unable tocollect certain parameters from captured image and/or theinformation/data collected from captured image is ambiguous, the carriersystem 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may utilize the default configuration (which may bestored in the customer profile) in order to facilitate a shipment.

Referring to Block 405, some embodiments may configure the carriersystem 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) to determine related shipment data. For example, thecarrier system 100 may determine contact information/data 800 from thetask-management entry 600. In this scenario, the customer computingentity 110 initially determines the appropriate contact and sends thecontact information/data 800 to the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) along with or as apart of the task-management information/data 605. This mayadvantageously provide the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) with allinformation/data necessary to process the entries with minimal latencydue to travel times across the network 105. Moreover, in variousembodiments, the customer computing entity 110 may identify relevantcalendar information/data stored in the memory of the customer computingentity 110 that may be utilized to determine one or more dates to beassociated with the task-management record. For example, the calendarinformation/data (e.g., received from a calendar software application)may identify a desired delivery date (e.g., a recipient's birthdaydate), a desired tender date, and/or the like.

Now turning to Block 410, once all relevant data/information has beendetermined and/or derived from the task-management information/data 605,the carrier system 100 may generate an electronic shipment record withthe proposed tender dates. For example, the carrier system 100 mayinvoke an electronic component/module by initializing the electroniccomponent/module (e.g. allocate the required memory resources) and thendistribute all collected information data to the electronic component asinput parameters. As will be recognized, this electroniccomponent/module may be uniquely configured to assist in the completionof shipping related tasks and/or the like. Moreover, the electroniccomponent may be operatively connected to the carrier system 100 or maybe an internal component/module of the carrier system itself (and/orother appropriately configured computing entity/entities). In anembodiment, once the electronic component/module completes processing,the carrier system 100 may retrieve the output from the electroniccomponent (e.g. a generated electronic shipping record) and proceed withfurther processing. For example, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may then transmitthe electronic shipment record to the customer computing entity 110 forthe customer/shipper 525 to review/confirm. For example, the generatedelectronic shipment record may be transmitted to the configurationmanagement program as an automated prompt/alert 515 for thecustomer/shipper 525 to confirm the details and initialize the shipment.As will be recognized, the prompt/alert 515 may be transmitted (e.g.,Block 415) to the bridging application (i.e., the configurationmanagement program) for example by hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP)packages across network 105.

In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may receive the confirmedelectronic shipment record (e.g., Block 420) once it has beenreceived/reviewed and confirmed by the customer/shipper 525 on thecustomer computing entity 110. The carrier system 100 may then generatean electronic package level detail (PLD) with the shippinginformation/data based at least in part on the electronic shipmentrecord.

In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may facilitate a drop-off of theitem/shipment 120. For example, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may transmit thegenerated PLD to the customer computing entity 110 to facilitatecreation of the new task-management entries in the task-managementprogram 610. In an embodiment, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may, by transmittingdata through a bridging application or through an authorized connectionto an appropriately configured API, invoke and/or automatically causethe task-management program 610 to activate/open and display thetransmitted data to the customer/shipper 525 forreview/confirmation/verification purposes. Once the new entries aregenerated, either in the background or as an active process/applicationto be viewed by the customer/shipper 525, such new task-managemententries may proactively assist the customer/shipper 525 in timelydropping off item/shipment 120 525 for delivery and/or scheduling apick-up for item/shipment 525.

Phase 1: Identify Prospective Shipment

Reference will now be made to FIG. 5A, which is an exemplary flowdiagram for identifying a prospective shipment based on user inputinformation/data provided by the shipper 525 to a customer computingentity 110. As previously noted, various embodiments are configured foridentifying prospective shipments/items as well as associated shipmentdata, based on user input to one or more task-management softwareapplications. For example, upon receipt of user input identifying ashipping task of “Send package to Joe Smith by his birthday,” variousembodiments are configured to extract relevant package information/datafrom the provided user input to identify appropriate tender dates bywhich the shipper should tender the item/shipment 120 to a carrier inorder to ensure that the item/shipment 120 is delivered by a desireddelivery date.

As previously noted, the customer/shipper 525 may have to performadditional tasks to setup a default configuration in the event thatcertain parameters are missing and/or ambiguous in order to facilitate ashipment, As illustrated in FIG. 5A, the customer/shipper 525 initiatesthe process by creating a task management entry 600. For example, acustomer/shipper 525 may provide user input regarding a particularshipping task that he or she would like to perform to a task-managementsoftware application executing on the customer computing entity 110. Invarious embodiments, the task-management software application may beconfigured to accept user input regarding a variety of shipment-relatedand/or non-shipment-related tasks. For example, the task managementsoftware application may be configured to accept tasks, such as generaltasks such as “Pick-up cheese at store,” “Take dog for walk,” and/orshipping tasks such as “Send package to Joe,” “Check tracking of shippedpackage,” “Verify if tracking #1234567890 is included on next month'sbilling cycle.” As will be recognized, the carrier system 100 mayidentify/characterize the tasks from the task management softwareapplication as general or shipping related tasks. For example, thecarrier system 100 may identify/characterize the tasks as either a (a)shipment task, (b) return shipment task, (c) package visibility request,or (d) package payment request.

The carrier system 100 may detect/collect a task management entry 600 bytriggering a process 500 that periodically queries 502 the recordsassociated with task-management program 610 to determine if there arenew entries available 501. Upon determining that there is a new taskmanagement entry 600, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may receive the task entryinformation/data 503. For example, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may submit a pullrequest to the task-management program 610 of all relevant entries 600that have been submitted since the last query 502 was made.Alternatively, the customer computing entities 110 may push the taskentry information/data to the carrier system and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entities upon determining new entries areavailable. The process 503 of obtaining the information/data may resultwith the carrier system 100 collecting the task management entry 600 aswell as any metadata (e.g., timestamps, URLs, user information, and/orthe like). The combination of the content entered by thecustomer/shipper 525 and the metadata, which may be programmaticallydetermined and/or stored by the task-management program 610 may resultin the task-management information/data 605 that is received by thecarrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities). In addition, task-management information/data 605 maycontain additional information/data stored in the task-management entry600. Referring to FIG. 6B, which illustrates an example user interfaceillustrating a task management record, it can be seen thattask-management information/data 605 may comprise additional content,such as user input notes, comments, and/or the like. In the illustratedembodiment of FIG. 6B, the additional user input notes may be shown in aselectable visible drop-down menu for each electronic task managementrecord. In various embodiments, the task-management information/data 605may also comprise additional “notes” such as the from-address forshipping the item/shipment 120.

In an embodiment in which the carrier system 100 obtains thetask-management information/data 605, it may programmatically loopthrough each entry to determine if the information/data 605 has ashipment indication 504. This shipment indication 504 may be in the formof keywords, phrases, codes, symbols, and/or the like present in atask-management record. As can be seen in FIG. 6A, an exemplarytask-management program 610 contains a shipment indication fortask-management entry 600, which states “Ship package to Johnnie for hisb-day.” In this scenario, the shipment indication may be the word“ship.” Upon determining whether a shipment indication 504 exists, thecarrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may determine to either (a) ignore the entry, or (b) tocontinue processing and extract shipment data from the entry, as will befurther explained below. In yet other embodiments, the customercomputing entity 110 may be configured to identify those entriescomprising shipment indications 504 before electrically transmittingtask management information/data to the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities). Accordingly, thecustomer computing entity 110 may be configured to transmit taskmanagement information/data regarding only those entries comprisingshipment indications 504 to the carrier system 100.

In one embodiment, once the shipment indication 504 indicates tocontinue processing, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may be configured to characterizethe shipping task indicated by the task-management record. For example,the carrier system 100 may be configured to determine whether thetask-management record indicates that the task is to ship anitem/shipment, track an existing item/shipment en route to adestination, and/or the like. In various embodiments, the carrier system100 may be configured to characterize the task based on keywords withinthe task-management record. For example, “ship to” may be indicative ofa task for initializing a new shipment, “track” may be indicative oftracking an existing item/shipment, and/or the like.

By characterizing the task identified by the task-management record, thecarrier system 100 may be configured to determine whether the shippingtask encompasses one or more electronic components, such as accessingtracking information for an existing shipment, generating PLD data for anew item/shipment, and/or the like. Thus, the carrier system 100 may beconfigured to initialize one or more of the electronic components of theshipping task automatically, without additional user input, therebyfacilitating the identified shipment related task for the user.

Upon determining that a task-management record indicates that a newitem/shipment is to be shipped, the carrier system 100 may initializeone or more electronic components of the shipping task for transportingthe item/shipment 120 from an origin to a destination. The carriersystem 100 may be configured to extract 505 the parameters necessary toinitialize the shipment from the task-management record, such as thecontact information/data for whom the customer/shipper 525 intends tosend the item/shipment 120 in order to generate PLD data to be utilizedby the carrier to direct the item/shipment to its respective destinationand/or to permit users to electronically track the location of theitem/shipment. For example, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may collect contactinformation/data records from the customer computing entity 110 via abridging application that is installed and executed locally on thecustomer computing entity 110. In this example, bridging application(also referred to herein interchangeably as the configuration managementprogram) may have the relevant permissions to view/retrieve contactsfrom the customer computing entity 110. The carrier system 100 may thensystematically use each word and/or combinations of each word in thetask-management information/data 605 and compare against a listing ofall contacts retrieved. Referring to the above-mentioned example, thecarrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) can analyze the “Ship package to Johnnie for his b-day”entry, extract data indicating that the shipment is destined for“Johnnie” (e.g., by parsing/extracting the entry to identify individualwords and/or phrases that correspond to particular aspects of shipmentdata) and subsequently find a contact match for the word “Johnnie.” Forexample, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configuredcomputing entity/entities) may utilize a previously authorized protocolto connect to a database 575 stored on the customer computing entity110. This database 575 may comprise all relevant contactinformation/data associated with customer/shipper 525 and/or allrelevant calendar information/data associated with the customer/shipper525. Once the carrier system 100 successfully connects to the database575, it may programmatically cycle through each recognized and/orextracted word and/or character combination (e.g., “Ship,” “package,”“to,” “Johnnie”) from the task-management entry 600. On each iterationof the cycle, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may then query each word and/orcharacter combination against the database 575 and store the queryresults in a contacts list. In this scenario, the carrier system 100 maysuccessfully find an appropriate contact match when querying thedatabase 575 against the word “Johnnie.”

In one embodiment, if the system finds multiple possible matches to theword and/or character combination “Johnnie,” the system may perform a“best guess,” which can be reviewed by the customer/shipper 525 later inthe process. The carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may then collect allinformation/data associated with the contact “Johnnie Doe.” Withreference to FIG. 9A, an exemplary depiction of contact information/datathat may be utilized by the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) can be seen. In thisexample, the customer computing entity 110 has a contacts module thatcontains typical/data 800 available such as the name, e-mail, address,and date of birth. All such information/data 800 may be available to thecarrier system 100 for further processing.

Referring back to FIG. 5A, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may determine 506 ifa ship-to address is provided in the task-management information/data605. In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may alsoderive/obtain 507 the ship-to address from the contact information/data800 and/or the task-management information/data 605. As an example, withthe carrier system 100 determining that “Johnnie Doe” is the appropriatecontact, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configuredcomputing entity/entities) may then analyze the information/data 800 andreference the corresponding date of birth (DOB) field toinfer/suggest/determine that the ship-to address is “1201 West PeachtreeStreet, Atlanta, Ga., 30309.”

Once the ship-to address has been obtained/inferred, the carrier system100 (and/or other appropriately configured computing entity/entities)may programmatically determine 509 the ship-from/origin location. In oneembodiment, the carrier system 100 may monitor and collect/determine 511the location of the customer computing entity 110. For example, thecarrier system 100 may periodically receive information/data from alocation-determining device in association with the customer computingentity 110. This collected location information/data may then be used toidentify the ship-from location.

For example, in general terms, the locations of various entities(carrier system 100, customer computing entities 110, and/or the like)can be monitored or determined/identified by any of a variety ofcomputing entities including carrier system 100, customer computingentities 110, and/or the like. For example, the locations may bemonitored or determined/identified with the aid of or in coordinationwith location-determining devices, location-determining aspects,location-determining features, location-determining functionality,location-determining sensors, and/or other location services. Such mayinclude GPS; cellular assisted GPS; real time location systems or servertechnologies using received signal strength indicators from a Wi-Finetwork); triangulating positions in connection with a variety of othersystems, including cellular towers, Wi-Fi access points, and/or thelike; and/or the like. Using these and other approaches and techniques,an appropriate computing entity (e.g., carrier system 100, customercomputing entity 110, and/or the like) can determine, for example,whether and when entities are within a configurable/determinabledistance/proximity from one another and/or a known location. That knownlocation may have a corresponding physical address, which may be used asthe ship-from/origin location. By way of example, assume John (carryinghis customer computing entity 110) has the selected the configurationoption to use his current location as the ship-from/origin location. Anappropriate computing entity can make such adetermination/identification based on the monitoring. In response, anappropriate computing entity (e.g., carrier system 100, user computingentity 110, and/or the like) can automatically provide appropriatelocation-based information/data (e.g., 40.7127837, −74.0059413) andtransmit the appropriate location-based address (e.g., 1201 WestPeachtree Street Northwest, Atlanta, Ga., United States) to theappropriate entity to assign “1201 West Peachtree Street Northwest,Atlanta, Ga., United States” to the ship-from/origin location.

In another embodiment, the carrier system 100 may have a defaultship-from/origin location. For example, the carrier system 100 may becollected from the customer computing entity 110 in the form of profileinformation/data 580 that is stored in a database 510 associated withthe configuration management program. The carrier system 100 (and/orother appropriately configured computing entity/entities) may alsoproactively offer each above-mentioned process as a user-selectableoption 508 and store the selected option as the default process in thedatabase 510 associated with the database 510 associated with theconfiguration management program. For example, the carrier system 100may proactively request the appropriate information/data during theregistration process of the customer profile in a manner as previouslydescribed herein. Alternatively, if the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) recognizes that thefields associated with the appropriate information/data are missing fromthe default configuration, the carrier system 100 may request theappropriate information/data during the initial processing oftask-management entry 600 (e.g., as a pop-up prompt to fill in relevantdata). Moreover, the carrier system 100 may prompt the customer/shipper525 with the option to store the appropriate information/data in thecustomer profile for future use.

In certain embodiments, other information/data that may be derived andutilized to complete the shipment initialization process is the planneddelivery date of the item/shipment 120. As will be recognized, thecarrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may analyze the task-management information/data 605 todetermine if a shipment/tender date is indicated, as seen in process512. Furthermore, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may infer the planned shipmentdate by utilizing contextual information/data in the task-managementinformation/data 605. For example, the carrier system 100 may infer fromthe entry “Ship package to Johnnie for his b-day” that the “b-day”corresponds to the planned date of arrival. The carrier system 100 maythen access the contact information/data 800 to pull the DOBinformation/data for “Johnnie Doe,” which in this exemplary case is Nov.15, 2000.

In some embodiments, the carrier system 100 may obtain/determine theplanned arrival date from information/data comprising a delineated date.By way of example, the task-management information/data 605 may containthe entry “Ship package to Johnnie to receive by May 1, 2016.” In thisscenario, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configuredcomputing entity/entities) may recognize “May” as a calendar month andsubsequently collect the appropriate words and/or character combinationsto determine the planned arrival date to be “May 1, 2016.” For example,the carrier system 100 may programmatically cycle through eachrecognized word and/or character combination (e.g., “Ship,” “package,”“to,” “Johnnie,” “to,” “receive,” “by,” “May,” “1,” “2016”) from thetask-management information/data 605. On each iteration of the cycle,the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may attempt to instantiate each word and/or charactercombination as a “date” or “date-time” object to determine if thecombination is an appropriate date. In another embodiment, the carriersystem 100 may programmatically monitor the task-managementinformation/data 605 for known calendar keywords (e.g., Jan, January,February, etc.) which may indicate to the carrier system 100 that thetask-management information/data 605 contains a delineated date.

In this manner, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may be configured to determine 514the date by which the user intends for an item/shipment 120 to arrive ata certain location. For example, if the user intends to deliver theitem/shipment 120 on or before Christmas, 2016, the (e.g., item/shipment120, carrier system 100, customer computing entities 110, and/or thelike) would recognize that Christmas is a non-operational day for thecarrier and appropriately assign planned arrival date as Saturday, Dec.24, 2016.

For example, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may be configured to query aninternal carrier database that stores package level detailinformation/data and shipment transit information/data about one or moreitems/shipments 120 including the destination location, the originshipping information/data (e.g., origin location, origin time-zone,etc.), in-transit data, exception data, and/or delivery information/data(e.g., the planned arrival date). Based on the query results containingtransmit information, the carrier system 100 may calculate the number ofdays before arrival the item/shipment 120 should be tendered and assignthe tender date as the calculated/determined number of days before theplanned arrival date. As will be recognized, this process may berepeated multiple times, depending on the number of applicable servicelevels that may be applied in between the initial processing date andthe planned arrival date. In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 mayalso query the customer profile comprising the default configurationinformation/data to determine if a preferred service level has beenselected. Moreover, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may exclude any non-operationaldays (e.g., Holidays) in its calculation of applicable shipment options591.

In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 may propose multiple plannedshipment dates. As an example, the latest planned tender date maycorrespond to the date obtained from task-management information/data605. The carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configuredcomputing entity/entities) may also determine the applicable shipmentoptions 591 in between the current date and the planned arrival date.For example, each planned shipment date may be associated with adifferent carrier service level. Further, if the planned arrival date isDec. 25, 2016 and the initial date of which the carrier system 100 hasbegun processing the task-management information/data 605 is Dec. 15,2016, the carrier system 100 may determine the planned arrival date tobe Dec. 25, 2016, the proposed alternative shipment dates may correspondto arrival by Dec. 16, 2016 (using Next-Day Air); arrival by Dec. 17,2016 (using 2-Day Air); arrival by Dec. 25, 2016 (using Groundshipping); and/or the like. As will be appreciated, the planned arrivaldates as well as the alternative proposed shipment dates may correspondto the ship-to location, the ship-from location, any default shipmentoptions that are stored in the configuration management program, and/orthe like.

In the scenario where the task-management information/data 605 does notcontain any keywords or suggestions to derive the planned arrival date,the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may provide the planned arrival date and the proposedalternative tender dates by utilizing the initial date of which thecarrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) processed the task-management information/data 605. Forexample, if the initial processing date is Dec. 1, 2016, the carriersystem 100 may determine the planned arrival date to be the initial dateplus the estimated number of days for ground shipping to arrive at thedesired location (e.g., Dec. 10, 2016). The alternative proposedshipment dates may correspond to arrival by Dec. 2, 2016 (using Next-DayAir); arrival by Dec. 3, 2016 (using 2-Day Air); and/or the like. Aswill be recognized, the carrier system 100 may automatically determinethe multiple proposed tender dates in real-time. For example, thecarrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may continuously monitor the task-management program610 and, immediately following a determination that a task-managemententry 600 has been created, the system 100 can begin processing untilthe multiple proposed tender dates have been determined/calculated,based on the information/data contained in the task-management entry 600and/or the task-management entry information/data 605.

As will be recognized, the carrier system 100 advantageously providesmany capabilities to the customer/shipper 525 previously not possible.For example, the multiple tender dates calculated and generated inreal-time provides a process for streamlining appropriatedata/information in an efficient manner, thus removing often painstakingintermediary steps involving initial setup of shipping information/datafor a time-sensitive shipping task (e.g. sending a package by arelative's birthday). For example, the customer/shipper 525 may simplyprovide contextual information/data in a task-management program 610 totrigger automated generation of an electronic shipping record, as laterdiscussed in detailed.

In addition, the embodiments described herein are configured to utilizeinformation/data in an optimal fashion. For example, the carrier system100 (and/or other appropriately configured computing entity/entities)may utilize a customer profile comprising a default configuration tooptimally provide information/data that the customer/shipper 525historically would have to fill in. Moreover, the carrier system 100 mayfurther optimize information/data sharing to the customer/shipper 525 byonly providing shipping information/data that is relevant/needed by thecustomer/shipper 525, thus limiting vital computational calculations ofthe mobile device 110. Conveniently, by automatically generatingproposed tender dates in real-time, this allows an improvement in thebattery conservation of the appropriate entity (e.g., mobile device 110)by reducing the necessary time the customer/shipper 525 must interfacewith the di splay (i.e., reducing battery consumption) of theappropriate entity (e.g., mobile device 110).

As will be appreciated, the carrier system 100 as described herein hasbeen advantageously configured to only provide information/dataregarding shipment options 591 that ensure the package will arrive bythe planned arrival date. For example, all shipment options 591 that donot allow the item/shipment 120 525 to arrive at the destinationlocation by the planned arrival date will not be considered and thus notrelayed to the customer/shipper 525.

In one embodiment, once all relevant data/information has beendetermined and/or derived from the task-management information/data 605,the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may generate an electronic shipment record with theproposed tender dates and transmit the electronic shipment record to thecustomer computing entity 110 via the network 105. The generatedelectronic shipment record may be transmitted to the configurationmanagement program as an automated prompt/alert 515 for thecustomer/shipper 525 to confirm the details and initialize the shipment.In some embodiments, the shipment information/data may be transmitted tothe bridging application (i.e., the configuration management program,for example by utilizing hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) packetsacross network 105 and displayed via a prompt/alert 515.

In various embodiments, the carrier system 100 may be configured togenerate the electronic shipping record for an anticipated shipmentbased at least in part on contextual information/data provided as aportion of the task-management record. In various embodiments, thecarrier system 100 may be configured to identify and/or characterizecontextual information/data based on keywords within the task-managementrecord (e.g., generic keywords stored by the carrier system 100 and/oruser-specific keywords identified based at least in part on other datastored within the mobile computing device. For example, user-specifickeywords may be generated based at least in part on a contact list(e.g., names of individual contacts stored within the mobile computingdevice), a customer profiles storing data indicative of user-specifickey words, and/or the like.

For example, the carrier system 100 may identify the accounts/profilesfor one or more potential shipment/item recipients (e.g., “John” and“Joey”) using unique identifiers corresponding to the potentialshipment/item recipients (e.g., a phone number, an address, user name, aname, and/or other information/data) and automatically generate/createan electronic item/shipment 120 record for the same. In other examples,the accounts/profiles can be determined/identified from online handles,usernames, user IDs, screen names, emojis, characters, images, icons,text, colors, and/or the like. The electronic shipping record mayinclude information/data about the sender/consignor, theconsignee/intended recipient of the item, the item, the delivery servicelevel for the item, payment information/data, and/or the like.

In one embodiment, in addition to generating/creating a shipping record,the carrier system 100 can automatically generate and/or provide anitem/shipment 120 label (corresponding to the electronic item/shipment120 record) to be printed and affixed to the item/shipment 120. Theitem/shipment 120 label may be configured to be affixed by thecustomer/shipper 525, and/or the sender/consignor, and/or thecarrier/transporter. As just one example, an item/shipment consignor maytender the item/shipment 120 to a carrier/transporter (not pictured)with only a unique identifier corresponding to a package recipient(e.g., a phone number, online handle, username, user ID, screen name,and/or the like) on an exterior of a packaging of the item/shipment 120.In such embodiments, the carrier system 100 may be configured toidentify the corresponding item/shipment 120 record based on the uniqueidentifiers for the item/shipment recipient once the item/shipment 120is received by the carrier/transporter. The carrier system 100 mayverify the item/shipment 120 by determining/identifying thecorresponding electronic shipping record, generate/create a label to beapplied to the exterior of the item/shipment 120 if not already affixed,update the corresponding item/shipment 120 record to indicate therelevant activity, determine/identify the weight and size of theitem/shipment 120 (e.g., including determining/identifying the dimweight of the item/shipment 120), determine/identify the transportationscosts to be charged for transporting the item/shipment 120, charge thetransportation costs for transporting the item/shipment 120, and/orallow the item/shipment 120 to be transported through the carrier'stransportation and logistics network. This may involve one or morecarriers/transporters as described U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,712,923 and8,712,922, which are hereby incorporated in their entireties byreference.

In one embodiment, each item/shipment may be associated with a uniqueidentifier (e.g., ARG159E shown in FIG. 16B) to be applied to theexterior of the package to identify individual items/shipments 120(e.g., if a consignor sends multiple shipments to a consignee). In oneembodiment, such unique identifiers may be represented as text,barcodes, tags, character strings, Aztec Codes, MaxiCodes, DataMatrices, QR Codes, electronic representations, and/or the like. Suchconcepts are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,010,463, which his herebyincorporated in its entirety by reference.

In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may receive the confirmedelectronic shipment record once it has been received/reviewed andconfirmed by the customer/shipper 525 on the customer computing entity110. The carrier system 100 may then generate 516 an electronic packagelevel detail (PLD) with the shipping information/data based at least inpart on the electronic shipment record, thereby completing theinitialize shipment phase and beginning 550 phase 2 of the integrationprocess.

Phase 2: Facilitate Drop-Off/Pick-Up of an Item/Shipment 120

Reference will now be made to FIG. 5B, which describes an exemplaryprocess for facilitating a drop-off or a pick-up of an item/shipment120. In some embodiments, the carrier system 100 may be configured toautomatically notify/alert the customer/shipper 525 via customnotifications, task-management items, calendar updates, and/or the like.

In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may remove 551 the processedtask-management entry 600 of “Ship package to Johnnie for his b-day.” Anexemplary depiction of this process 551 can be seen in FIG. 8A. In thisexample, the carrier system 100 updates the task-management program 610by using the initial task-management information/data 605, which maycomprise the task-management entry id 552. Using the entry id 552,carrier system 100 may perform status updates and/or generatetask-completion information/data corresponding to the respectivetask-management entry 600, so as to notify the customer/shipper 525 thatthis entry item/shipment 120 has been processed.

In one embodiment, the carrier system 100 may facilitate a drop-off ofthe item/shipment 120. For example, the carrier system 100 can obtainlocation information/data from the customer/shipper 525 and determine acustomizable radius from that distance. In this manner, the carriersystem 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may utilize other mapping systems and/or internalsystems to determine locations to drop off the item/shipment 120. As canbe seen in FIG. 7, the carrier system 100 may have access to an internaldatabase 555 containing a plurality of drop-off locations (e.g., UPSStores, UPS Drop Boxes, and/or the like). Once the locations arecollected, the carrier system 100 may determine 553 if the drop-offlocation addresses are within the radius (e.g., as previously describedherein) and generate a prompt 554 to the customer computing entity 110for the customer/shipper 525 to review/select. For example, the carriersystem 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may provide location-based notifications/messages inaccordance with the corresponding notification/message preferences. Inone embodiment, an appropriate computing entity can providelocation-based notifications/messages when the configurable/determinableparameters are satisfied. For example, when an appropriate computingentity determines/identifies that the configurable/determinableparameters for the radius are satisfied, the appropriate computingentity can automatically provide appropriate location-based queuednotifications/messages and/or automatically generate, queue, andtransmit appropriate information/data comprising location-basednotifications/messages (e.g., a pop-up, an application notification,etc.) in compliance with the corresponding notification/messagepreferences from the customer profile.

Upon selecting the relevant drop-off/origin locations, the carriersystem 100 may receive the selection either by the task-managementprogram 610, the configuration management program, or any other methodsknown in the art. Alternatively, the carrier system 100 may facilitate apick-up of the item/shipment 120 from the from-address obtained from thepreviously-mentioned processing steps. For instance, the carrier system100 (and/or other appropriately configured computing entity/entities)may prompt the user to select (e.g., from a list of available pick-uptimes displayed on a user interface) an appropriate time to schedule apick up the item/shipment 120 from the from-address. By way of example,assume John (carrying his customer computing entity 110) has selectedthe configuration option to use his current location as theship-from/origin location, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may prompt the userto select (e.g., from a list of available pick-up times displayed on auser interface) an appropriate time to schedule a pick-up of theitem/shipment 120 from the from-address (e.g., the customer's/shipper's525 current location).

In one embodiment, if the customer/shipper 525 elects to drop off theitem/shipment 120 at one of the plurality of drop-off locationsdetermined by the carrier system 100, the carrier system 100 may furtherfacilitate the drop-off by interfacing with the task-management program610 to create 556 a new entry item. For example, FIG. 8B shows adepiction of this process in which the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) generates a newtask-management entry 715 for presentation in the task-managementprogram 610. The new task-management entry 715 may have the updated PLDinformation/data 700 that was generated after the customer/shipper 525confirmed the electronic shipment record. This PLD information/data 700may comprise (a) the ship from-address, (b) the ship-to address, (c) PLDconfirmation information, (d) the drop-off location address, (e) theplanned arrival date, (f) the proposed shipment options, and/or othersuitable information/data that may be utilized for the purposes offacilitating a drop-off and/or pick-up of an item/shipment 120. In thescenario in which the customer/shipper 525 elects to schedule a pick-upof an item/shipment 120, the PLD information/data 700 may also comprisethe proposed date of which the package needs to be picked up in order toarrive by the planned arrival date.

In certain embodiments, the new task-management entry 715 may begenerated prior to and/or without receiving the generated PLDinformation/data 700. In various embodiments, the carrier system 100 maygenerate multiple task-management entries 715, each corresponding to aparticular service level (e.g., Next-Day Air, 2-Day Air, Ground, and/orthe like) and/or tender date (e.g., Dec. 1, 2016, Dec. 2, 2016, etc.).Moreover, in various embodiments, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may be configured toautomatically remove any past-due shipment-related tasks. For example,the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may automatically monitor the generated task-managemententries 715 and remove/delete the entry 715 corresponding to the groundservice level once that service level is no longer able to successfullydeliver the package to the destination by the planned arrival date. Inone embodiment, the carrier system 100 programmatically continue thisprocess of periodically monitoring all corresponding task-managemententries 715 and may remove/delete all but the final remaining entry todrop-off (or pick-up) the package. This configuration enables thecustomer/shipper 525 multiple opportunities to be notified of thepending item/shipment 120 without allowing a situation in which allgenerated task-management entries are automatically deleted. In suchembodiments, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may also delete all remaining newtask-management entries 715 upon an indication that the package has beensuccessfully dropped-off and/or picked up. For example, the carriersystem 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may generate task-completion information/data uponreceipt of an indication that one of the multiple new task-managemententries 715 has been completed. Upon receiving this indication, thecarrier system 100 may remove all of the remaining multiple newtask-management entries 715 so as to avoid superfluous notifications.

In certain embodiments, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may generate 557alerts/notifications alternative to or in addition to the new generatedtask-management entry 715. These alerts may comprise operating systemlevel notifications, application specific notifications, reminders,timers, and/or the like. These alerts/notifications may be characterizedas either time-sensitive alerts/notifications or location-sensitivealerts/notifications. Indeed, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) may be configured togenerate both type of alerts simultaneously. Further both categories ofalerts may be controlled/selected in the configuration managementprogram and transmitted to the carrier system 100 for storage in aconfiguration database, for example. Moreover, these location-sensitivealerts/notifications and time-sensitive alerts/notifications may begenerated and presented in a user interface on the customer computingentity 110 as a direct result of the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) receivingconfirmation of the electronic shipment record and/or selection of thedrop-off locations previously presented. In one embodiment, thelocation-sensitive alerts/notifications and time-sensitivealerts/notifications may be generated (as depicted in step 559 and 560of FIG. 7, respectively) without any additional interaction from thecustomer/shipper 525.

In an embodiment, the carrier system 100 may be configured toautomatically complete and/or approve the previously generated newtask-management entry 715 in the event that the item/shipment 120 issuccessfully dropped off at one of the plurality of drop-off locations.In this regard, the carrier system 100 may receive information/dataindicating that the customer/shipper has completed the shipping task(e.g., physically dropped off and/or verified the item/shipment 120).For example, the customer computing entity 110 may be configured togenerate data indicating the customer/shipper has entered a drop-offlocation. In various embodiments, the customer computing entity 110 mayutilize data indicating the customer/shipper has been located within adrop-off location as a proxy for more specific data indicating thecustomer/shipper has actually dropped off the item. In certainembodiments, the carrier system 100 may be configured to receive datafrom one or more computing entities located at the drop-off locationindicating that the customer has dropped off the item/shipment 120. Forexample, the drop-off location may be configured to update theelectronic shipping record corresponding to the item/shipment 120 toindicate that the item/shipment 120 has been dropped off.

In such embodiments, the system may instruct a native reminderapplication/task-management application (e.g., to-do list)/calendarapplication and/or the like to generate and store reminders/taskitems/shipments to automatically complete the generated task-managemententries as well as automatically notify the customer/shipper 5252 thatthe shipping task has been completed.

By way of example, FIG. 9B depicts an example of alerts that may begenerated by the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities). Referring to the above-mentionedexample task-management entry 600, the location-sensitivealert/notification 805 is presented to the customer/shipper 525 on thecustomer computing entity 110. This location-sensitivealert/notification 805 may be triggered from the carrier system 100. Forexample, the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configuredcomputing entity/entities) may periodically receive locationinformation/data from the customer computing entity 110. It should berecognized that the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriatelyconfigured computing entity/entities) may also indeed query 765 thelocation information/data from the customer computing entity 110 in aneffort to determine 770 if the customer computing entity 110 is near oneor more of the proposed drop-off locations.

As can be seen in FIG. 9B, the time-sensitive alert/notification 810 mayalso be triggered from the carrier system 100. For example, the carriersystem 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may store the time at which the notification/alert isscheduled to trigger and periodically check 558 the stored records todetermine 559 if any alerts should be triggered to any devices. Thisstep may be configured in a manner known in the art. Once appropriate,the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configured computingentity/entities) may generate the notification and alert the customercomputing entity 110 as previously described. Once all alerts and/or newtask-management entry items/shipments 120 have been generated, thecarrier system 100 may terminate with step 599.

FIG. 10 shows another high level exemplary flowchart of a process tointegrate the carrier system 100 (and/or other appropriately configuredcomputing entity/entities) with a task-management program 610. In thisexample, the process begins with a process on the customer computingentity 110 analyzing 900 new entries 600 into the task-managementprogram 610. Once a new entry 600 has been found, the customer computingentity 110 may transmit 905 the entry information/data to a serversystem (e.g., the carrier system 100) to initialize a shipment. Next,the customer computing entity 110 may receive 910 an electronic shipmentrecord from the server system with details that were derived from theentry information/data initially sent. In response to receiving theelectronic shipment record from the server system, the customercomputing entity 110 may finalize 915 the electronic shipment record.For example, the customer/shipper 525 may be presented (with or withoutany direct user interaction) the electronic shipment record with theintention of confirming the derived details. In the scenario where thecustomer/shipper 525 confirms the electronic shipment record (which maycomprise reviewing and editing details of the electronic shipmentrecord), the customer computing entity 110 may transmit 920 theconfirmation shipment details back to the server system.

In one embodiment, the customer computing entity 110 may further create925 a new task-management entry with the confirmed shipment details, forexample with a third-party application or any mobile applicationaffiliated with the server system.

In some embodiments, the customer computing entity 110 may also generatetime-sensitive alerts/notifications 930 or location-sensitivealerts/notifications 935 in a manner previously described herein. Aspreviously described, a variety of types of notifications/messages canbe provided 940. With reference again to FIG. 9B, the depiction showsexemplary notifications/messages providing regarding a completedprocessing of a task-management entry item. For example, FIG. 9B shows anotification/message (e.g., a text message) that indicates where anitem/shipment 120 may need to be dropped off and can be retrieved by thecarrier. This location-based notification/message is provided to thecustomer in a time-appropriate manner (e.g., when he or she arrives athome or is in a physical location in which the drop-off location isclose to the customer/shipper 525). As will be recognized, thenotification/message may include images, links, advertisements, and/orthe like. For example, the images and links may provide information/dataabout the location to drop off the item/shipment 120 (e.g., a picture ofwhere the image is placed or open a map application that guides thecustomer to the item). As will be recognized, the notifications/messagescan be provided in accordance with user notification/messagepreferences. For instance, the carrier system 100 (and/or otherappropriately configured computing entity/entities) can automaticallygenerate, queue, and/or transmit (e.g., provide) emailnotifications/messages to email addresses, text notifications/messagesto cellular phones or applications, notifications/messages to designatedapplications, and/or the like.

In another example, assume John drives his vehicle 100 home and has hiscustomer computing entity 110 on his person when arrives at hisresidence (34.3218697, −83.1239871). Upon doing so, John (e.g., thevehicle 100 and mobile phone 110) enters a geofence or is within aconfigurable/determinable distance/proximity of his residence. Anappropriate computing entity can make such adetermination/identification based on the monitoring (see FIG. 10). Inresponse, an appropriate computing entity (e.g., carrier system 100,user computing entity 110, and/or the like) can automatically provideappropriate location-based queued notifications/messages and/orautomatically generate, queue, and transmit appropriate location-basednotifications/messages.

IV. CONCLUSION

Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forthherein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which theseinventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is tobe understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specificembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method forgenerating updated electronic task management records accessible via acomputing device to reflect shipment reminders for proposed shipments,wherein the method comprises: detecting creation of an electronictask-management record associated with a package comprising a firstimage of the package captured by a remote customer computing device,wherein the electronic task-management record is created via acommunication interface, in an application executed by the remotecustomer computing device; extracting shipment data comprising acustomer, a destination location, a desired delivery data, and a currentlocation of the remote customer computing device at least in part fromthe detected electronic task-management record; in response toextracting the shipment data, generating a set of task-managemententries and an electronic shipment record, the set of task-managemententries comprising at least one tender date and an origin location, theelectronic shipment record comprising a set of logistic instructions forrouting the package from the origin location to the destinationlocation; communicating the generated set of task-management entries tothe remote customer device using the communication interface, whereinthe communication causes the population of the electronictask-management record with the generated set of task-managemententries; receiving a second image of the package from alocation-monitoring networked device that captured the second image;extracting from the second image of the package a tendered location ofthe package; comparing the origin location from the set oftask-management entries to the tendered location from the second image,wherein in response to a match between the origin location and thetendered location a shipment confirmation is communicated to the remotecustomer computing device via the communication interface, wherein inresponse to receipt of the shipment confirmation, the shipmentconfirmation updates the electronic task-management record by deletingthe set of task-management entries from memory of the remote customercomputing device by the application; and facilitating delivery of thepackage via the set of logistics instructions.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein updating the electronic task-management records generates one ormore alerts using the remote customer device.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein at least one of the one or more alerts is based at least in parton the location of the remote customer computing device.
 4. The methodof claim 2, wherein at least one of the one or more alerts is based atleast in part on a predetermined time corresponding to the at least onetender date.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the extraction ofshipping data automatically causes the remote customer computing deviceto activate a second software application installed on the customercomputing device, wherein the second software application is configuredto generate a user interface comprising a prompt for the customer toconfirm the electronic shipment record.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the electronic task-management record is selected from a groupconsisting of: i. a to-do list item, ii. an electronic reminder entry,iii. a calendar entry, iv. a voice-assisted command, and v. a capturedimage of the proposed shipment.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinextracting the shipment data further comprises: parsing the electronictask-management record to identify data indicative of an intendedrecipient; determining a destination location for the proposed shipmentbased at least in part on contact data corresponding to the intendedrecipient; and determining a desired delivery date based at least inpart on the contact data corresponding to the intended recipient,wherein the contact data is maintained by the remote customer computingdevice.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: modifying the taskmanagement record upon receipt of the shipment confirmation to indicatethat at least one of the one or more updated electronic task-managemententries of the task management record is complete, wherein the shipmentconfirmation comprises a service level and an actual tender datecorresponding to the updated electronic task-management record.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: modifying, via the one or moreprocessors, at least one of the one or more updated electronictask-management records upon receipt of data indicating that theproposed shipment has been received by a drop-off location for deliveryto the destination location.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the taskmanagement record is selected from a group consisting of: i. a shipmenttask, ii. a return shipment task, iii. a package visibility request, andiv. a package payment request.
 11. An apparatus for initializing andfacilitating electronic task management records accessible via acomputing device to reflect shipment reminders for proposed shipments,the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memoryincluding program code, the at least one memory and the program codeconfigured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus toat least: detecting creation of an electronic task-management recordassociated with a package comprising a first image of the packagecaptured by a remote customer computing device, wherein the electronictask-management record is created via a communication interface,maintained by an application executed by the remote customer computingdevice; extracting shipment data comprising a customer, a destinationlocation, a desired delivery data, and a current location of the remotecustomer computing device at least in part from the detected electronictask-management record; in response to extracting the shipment data,generating a set of task-management entries and an electronic shipmentrecord, the set of task-management entries comprising at least onetender date and an origin location, the electronic shipment recordcomprising a set of logistic instructions for routing the package fromthe origin location to the destination location; communicating thegenerated set of task-management entries to the remote customer deviceusing the communication interface, wherein the communication causes thepopulation of the electronic task-management record with the generatedset of task-management entries; receiving a second image of the packagefrom a location-monitoring networked device that captured the secondimage; extracting from the second image of the package a tenderedlocation of the package; comparing the origin location from the set oftask-management entries to the tendered location from the second image,wherein in response to a match between the origin location and thetendered location a shipment confirmation is communicated to the remotecustomer computing device via the communication interface, wherein inresponse to receipt of the shipment confirmation, the shipmentconfirmation updates the electronic task-management record by deletingthe set of task-management entries from a memory of the remote customercomputing device by the application; and facilitating delivery of thepackage via the set of logistics instructions.
 12. The apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein updating the electronic task-management recordsgenerates one or more alerts using the remote customer device.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein at least one of the one or more alerts isbased at least in part on the location of the remote customer computingdevice.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein at least one of the oneor more alerts is based at least in part on a predetermined timecorresponding to the at least one tender date.
 15. The apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein the extraction of shipping data automatically causesthe remote customer computing device to activate a second softwareapplication installed on the customer computing device, wherein thesecond software application is configured to generate a user interfacecomprising a prompt for the customer to confirm the electronic shipmentrecord.
 16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the task-managementrecord is selected from a group consisting of: i. a to-do list item, ii.an electronic reminder entry, iii. a calendar entry, iv. avoice-assisted command, and v. a captured image of the proposedshipment.
 17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein extracting the shipmentdata further comprises: parsing the electronic task-management record toidentify data indicative of an intended recipient; determining adestination location for the proposed shipment based at least in part oncontact data corresponding to the intended recipient; and determining adesired delivery date based at least in part on the contact datacorresponding to the intended recipient, wherein the contact data ismaintained by the remote customer computing device.
 18. The apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the program code areadditionally configured to, with the at least one processor, cause theapparatus to at least: modify the electronic shipment record for theproposed shipment upon receipt of data indicating that one of the one ormore updated electronic task-management records is marked as complete,wherein the electronic shipment record is updated to reflect a servicelevel and a tender date corresponding to the completed updatedelectronic task-management record.
 19. The apparatus of claim 11,wherein the at least one memory and the program code are additionallyconfigured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus toat least: modify the task management record upon receipt of the shipmentconfirmation to indicate that at least one of the one or more updatedelectronic task-management entries of the task management record iscomplete, wherein the confirmation comprises a service level and anactual tender date corresponding to the updated electronictask-management record.
 20. The method of claim 1, wherein the shippingtask is selected from a group consisting of: i. a shipment task, ii. areturn shipment task, iii. a package visibility request, and iv. apackage payment request.
 21. A computer program product comprising atleast one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-readable program code portions stored therein, thecomputer-readable program code portions comprising: an executableportion configured to detect creation of an electronic task-managementrecord including a first image of a package, the electronictask-management record maintained by an application executed by a remotecustomer computing device via a communication interface, wherein thefirst image is captured by the remote customer computing device; anexecutable portion configured to extract shipment data comprising acustomer, a destination location, a desired delivery data, and a currentlocation of the remote customer computing device, at least in part, fromthe detected electronic task-management record; an executable portionconfigured to generate a set of task-management entries and anelectronic shipment record, the set of task-management entriescomprising at least one tender date and an origin location, theelectronic shipment record comprising a set of logistic instructions forrouting the package from the origin location to the destination locationin response to extracting the shipment data; an executable portionconfigured to communicate the generated set of task-management entriesto the remote customer device using the communication interface, whereinthe communication causes the population of the electronictask-management record with the generated set of task-managemententries; an executable portion configured to receive a second image ofthe package from a location-monitoring networked device that capturedthe second image; an executable portion configured to extract from thesecond image of the package a tendered location of the package; anexecutable portion configured to compare the origin location from theset of task-management entries to the tendered location from the secondimage, wherein in response to a match between the origin location andthe tendered location a shipment confirmation is communicated to theremote customer computing device via the communication interface,wherein in response to receipt of the shipment confirmation, theshipment confirmation updates the electronic task-management by deletingthe set of task-management entries from a memory of the remote customercomputing device by the application; and an executable portionconfigured to facilitate delivery of the package via the set oflogistics instructions.
 22. The computer program product of claim 21,wherein updating the electronic task-management records comprisegeneration of one or more alerts in the application of the remotecustomer device.
 23. The computer program product of claim 22, whereinat least one of the one or more alerts is based at least in part on thelocation of the remote customer computing device.
 24. The computerprogram product of claim 22, wherein at least one of the one or morealerts is based at least in part on a predetermined time correspondingto the at least one tender date.
 25. The computer program product ofclaim 21, wherein the extraction of shipping data automatically causesthe remote customer computing device to activate a second softwareapplication installed on the customer computing device, wherein thesecond software application is configured to generate a user interfacecomprising a prompt for the customer to confirm the electronic shipmentrecord.
 26. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein thetask-management record is selected from a group consisting of: i. ato-do list item, ii. an electronic reminder entry, iii. a calendarentry, iv. a voice-assisted command, and v. a captured image of theproposed shipment.
 27. The computer program product of claim 21, whereinthe executable portion configured to receive extracted shipment datafurther comprises: parsing the electronic task-management record toidentify data indicative of an intended recipient; determining adestination location for the proposed shipment based at least in part oncontact data corresponding to the intended recipient; and determining adesired delivery date based at least in part on the contact datacorresponding to the intended recipient, wherein the contact data ismaintained by the remote customer computing device.
 28. The computerprogram product of claim 21, further comprising: an executable portionconfigured to modify the task management record upon receipt of theshipment confirmation to indicate that at least one of the one or moreupdated electronic task-management entries of the task management recordis complete, wherein the shipment confirmation comprises a service leveland an actual tender date corresponding to the updated electronictask-management record.
 29. The computer program product of claim 21,further comprising: an executable portion configured to modify theelectronic shipment record for the proposed shipment upon receipt ofdata indicating that one of the one or more updated electronictask-management records is marked as complete, wherein the electronicshipment record is updated to reflect a service level and a tender datecorresponding to the completed updated electronic task-managementrecord.
 30. The method of claim 21, wherein the task management recordis selected from a group consisting of: v. a shipment task, vi. a returnshipment task, vii. a package visibility request, and viii. a packagepayment request.